tiktok tourism marketing

How to Use TikTok for Tourism Marketing

Table of Content

Why tiktok is important for travel and tourism companies, 8 tips to use tiktok for tourism.

If you have been online at least once in 2020, you will have heard of TikTok. Created as Musical.ly in China back in 2014, the app was then purchased by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance in 2018, and TikTok was launched!

So, what is it? It’s essentially a short-form, video-sharing app that allows users to create and share 15-second videos, on any topic. Content varies widely, from lip-syncing songs to challenges but the main theme is that the posts are quirky and fun. It’s also the world’s fastest-growing social media platform, downloaded over 2.6 billion times worldwide with over 1.1 billion active users , more than Instagram but less than Facebook and YouTube …apps that have been around for much longer!

There are many reasons why TikTok is hugely relevant for our industry. First off, take a look at the app’s primary audience. 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24. Why does a travel or tourism company want to market to Gen Z-ers? Well, today’s teens are tomorrow’s travelers. Also, don’t forget that 75% of parents involve their children in the holiday decision-making process. More and more older users are joining, showing growing popularity amongst millennials who do have disposable income for travel right now.

The hashtag #TikTokTravel is one of the most popular on the platform, with a hugely impressive 20.8 billion views. Using this hashtag is a fantastic opportunity for tourism and travel companies to get started on TikTok and promote their destinations or activities.

Another great advantage is that by using TikTok for your brand, you will still be seen as an early-adopter. While other industries like fashion and FMCG have been present since TikTok’s inception in 2018, the platform is still unused by many travel and tourism organizations. Now is the moment to take advantage of this untapped new audience!

What’s more, TikTok is low cost. With marketing budgets across the world slashed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a great option for those of us with limited paid media budgets as the possibilities to go viral are greater than on other platforms.

1. Sign up but don’t post

You should sign up as soon as possible to secure your username. But then, we would advise you not to start creating content straight away. Instead, take your time to see what does and doesn’t work. Check out the most popular travel profiles and see what sort of videos they are releasing. Only start pushing out content once you feel confident with the platform, and of your messaging.

2. Consider challenge videos

Challenge videos are incredibly popular on TikTok! Do you remember Jimmy Fallon’s insanely popular Tumbleweed Challenge back in 2018? Well, challenge videos also work perfectly for the travel and tourism industry. How about asking people to share a video from a little-known hidden treasure using a hashtag that you create? Or encouraging funny videos from your tours? You can raise awareness and get some great user-generated content that you can use on your other marketing channels.

A great example of this was the campaign run by Wisma Geylang Serai, a cultural landmark in Singapore. Aiming to reach a younger audience, they launched a challenge campaign to encourage people to learn the steps to a traditional Malay dance, often performed on Ramadan. Their #TepukSepuluh hashtag was trending and they received over 1,300 video impressions, boosting awareness of their location on a global scale.

3. Focus on interactions

This is one of TikTok’s main distinguishing points with Instagram , and where many people go wrong. Don’t focus on your number of followers … interactions are the crucial metric to measure. Look at your views, as the TikTok algorithm favors posts that generate high levels of interactions in the first hour. So don’t be surprised if you see a famous brand with a small number of followers, check their posts and see how many likes and views they are getting…this is the real proof of success!

4. Create your own hashtags

Hashtags are incredibly important on TikTok, as with most social media platforms. One of the most popular hashtags for our industry is #TikTokTravel. You just incorporate this into your content as you will benefit from high visibility. You can also adapt it to your destination (for example TikTokBerlin). Be imaginative in creating your own hashtags, which you can share with your clients upon booking, and again on-site.

Tour operator Contiki wanted to find someone to help create their TikTok content. They launched a competition with their own hashtag #contikifindyourpeople, asking for people to share their best travel moments. Not only did they find a new member for their team, but they managed to get over 1.7 million views, boosting online awareness amongst their key demographics.

5. Choose your music wisely

Music is crucial to a video going viral on TikTok. By choosing popular songs in streaming charts, or fun local tracks from off-beat destinations, you can help your posts gain more traction.

The team at San Diego Zoo has perfected this skill. Yes, they have cute animals to feature in their videos which does help, but they also pick great tracks that match their videos perfectly! For a video of an owl jumping out of a hole, they used a remix of ‘What’s Poppin’, perfectly synced to the owls’ movements. This post received over 182,000 likes…so we certainly recommend checking out their account for some inspiration!

6. Don’t be afraid to repost other accounts

…as long as it fits with your branding. There will be amazing content out there that highlights your destinations or activities so share it! Booking.com currently don’t create their own content but share videos posted by other users that focus on booking travel and holidays. This can also be a great way to forge some new marketing partnerships that you might not have previously considered.

We would advise against reposting your own posts from other platforms here. TikTok is different from Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, so your audience requires unique content. They are looking for relatable videos that haven’t been polished to perfection so don’t try and save time by posting the same content everywhere.

7. Involve your team

People love to see behind the scenes of a brand so consider featuring your employees in posts. Seeing the people behind the company allow your audience to relate with your brand on a more personal level, and TikTok is a great platform for this. Show what they get up to on a workday – or if something fun or interesting happens to them. Make sure it doesn’t look staged or forced but if you have strong personalities and/or proficient TikTokers in the office, let them shine!

8. Be consistent

In order to succeed on TikTok, you have to post regularly. It is a fast-moving platform (like all social media) and there is a constant stream of fun and unique content. You should have a posting calendar and schedule, but also be flexible enough to react to current trends as and when they are happening.

When you look at brands performing well on TikTok, they have one thing in common…they post unique content on a regular basis. Just look at Chipotle , their page is often cited as a top example of excellent TikTok marketing. They post at least 3 times a week, keeping their audience engaged and remaining top of mind.

We hope that you agree that TikTok is a fantastic opportunity for travel brands to draw in a new audience. Now is the perfect time to start, so that you will be top of mind once travel restrictions ease off and people start to book again.

What’s more, our industry is fun and visually appealing, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find videos that showcase your destinations. If you need any more tips, check out our blog post which will help you improve your content marketing!

One final word of advice? Have fun! TikTok is an extremely amusing platform so enjoy it!

You might also like:

• How to Use Social Media for Destination Marketing
• Tourism Marketing Strategies for 2021 and Beyond
• Four Ways to Promote Your Tours to an International Audience
• 10 Tourism Marketing Campaigns that Work Despite Difficult Times

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Just how popular is TikTok?

TikTok has exploded so quickly in popularity that you might not be aware of just how many users it has. According to Influencity, Tik Tok has over 1.4 billion users and is the #1 most downloaded app globally. For reference, Twitter has around 450 million users.  

What makes it so popular?

There are a few aspects that really separate TikTok from other social media apps.

The FYP  

Unlike Facebook where you see the posts of your friends and family, TikTok automatically greets you with a “for-you-page” (FYP) which is customized by your interests and past likes. This means that every single user has a unique experience on the app and is only shown what they want to see.  

Anyone can be an influencer

Originally just a dance and lip-syncing app, many of the most -followed users are teenagers and young adults. In fact, the most followed person on the app is 18-year-old Charli D’Amelio with a whopping 139.2 million followers. Anyone can be an “influencer,” but to reach that number of followers, they have to post enough to keep attention on themselves.

Unlimited Possibilities  

The possibilities for content are endless. Just scrolling through your FYP for five minutes, you could see a variety of creative media from livestream debates between content creators, to a 2-minute crime video, to someone marketing themself with a “video resume”, and many videos of people dancing along to the latest dance trend.  

A “trend” on TikTok refers to any specific sound being used repeatedly by users, a new dance move that everyone is attempting to perfect, or a specific format of a video. Users are quick to recognize new and exciting trends, which is why it is especially important for your business or organization to take part. They make your page more personal, relatable, and noticeable. The thing about trends, however, are that they come and go very quickly. You need to be on the lookout for what is new. Watching other videos and paying attention to what is appearing on your FYP can inspire new content ideas that will help your company gain traction.

How companies use the app as a marketing tool

As there is so much room for creativity and so many users to appeal to, some companies are ahead of the game when it comes to getting their name out on TikTok and following the latest trends. For example, Duolingo, the language learning platform, consistently posts creative videos of their owl mascot working in the office. Chipotle shows off workers creating special bowls or videos of relatable moments like the “when-your-best-friend-doesn’t- know-your-Chipotle-order” moment. Sports teams, such as the Toronto Blue Jays, use the app to make fun videos of their players and will often comment on other videos or respond to fans.

TikTok and the tourism industry

So, all this knowledge now leads us to the topic of the hour: how to use TikTok to promote tourism. With over 1 billion users, this is a perfect marketing tool for the tourism industry. Tourism sells a product, just like Duolingo or Chipotle. The amount exposure you can create, followed by people being inspired to buy products and visit places is incredible. For starters, the most followed destination on TikTok is Palm Beaches Florida with 92.3k followers!  

If you scroll through travel or tourism hashtags, you’ll see lots of individual influencers promoting traveling through brand deals. Destinations and other travel-centered organizations are showing off their products through a wide array of trends or creative points of view. For example, hotels and resorts will often show the behind-the-scenes, or the different rooms and amenities they have to offer. If we are looking at a smaller company, the manager might do a “day-in-the-life” of their work routine. People, especially the younger generation, LOVE to see how other people spend their time at work. This also makes it more personal.  

Is it time to add a new social media channel? Here’s how you know  

Here are some inventive examples of travel, tourism and hospitality companies that are already using TikTok: 

This 59-second video explaining the Expedia Rewards Status with a few graphics and captions has 3.6 million views: 

@expedia #ExpediaExplains how to get travel perks ?✈️ #expedia #tiktoktravel #traveltok #traveltips #rewardsprogram #travel ♬ Lo-fi hip hop – NAO-K

Visit London

Visit London made this walk-through “Explore Westminster Abbey with us” video to highlight the iconic landmark with some pop-up facts about the church. This 15-second video has over 135,900 views:  

@visitlondon Explore Westminster Abbey with us, a living, working church and an iconic London landmark steeped in history! #LetsDoLondon #VisitLondon ♬ Metamorphosis – Danilo Stankovic

Education First, a company that specializes in travel tours and studying abroad, has a TikTok account that highlights all the perks of traveling to a different destination with people your age. Recently this account has been highlighting different destinations through a trend with eccentric music and pictures that flash before your eyes. Take a look: 

@ef.daily Reply to @yraquely as you wish ?? brought to you by @lolita.travels #efdaily #hawaii #sunset #traveltheworld #fypシ ♬ original sound – Valeria Torres

Hilton Hotels and Resorts show off the perks of their pet friendly hotels with this adorable video that encourages people to travel with their dogs:  

@hilton Sit, stay, lounge at nearly all of our Embassy Suites locations in the U.S. #dogtok #petfriendly #NationalPetMonth #hilton #EmbassySuites ♬ original sound – hilton

Palm Beach es

Finally, let’s see what our friends at Palm Beaches, the most followed destination on TikTok, are doing to attract followers. This video is a day trip itinerary, in video form:

@thepalmbeaches Take a day trip to sunny West Palm Beach with @Miami Turismo + Brightline ☀️? #thepalmbeaches #gobrightline #westpalmbeach #thingstodoinflorida #palmbeach ♬ Watermelon Sugar – Harry Styles

What all these companies have in common is that they are focusing on what their audience wants to see, and they participate in trends, no matter how silly they may seem.  

Tips to using TikTok to your advantage

• Create brief 20-60-second videos that appeal to short attention spans.
• Work to translate your brand into this new channel in a way that is consistent with your company yet is able to be recognized by TikTok users, such as the Duolingo owl workplace videos.
• Find influencers to show off your product and company.
• Have fun with it! Pay attention to trends and challenges that you could apply to your business or organization.

Related posts:

Social Media

How TikTok is impacting the travel & tourism industry & how brands are taking advantage

TikTok’s the new kid on the social media block, relatively speaking, and many travel and tourism brands are taking full advantage. Wish you were here?

Travel and tourism on TikTok isn’t just about visiting far-flung, exotic destinations (although that is clearly part of it!). It’s also about those arguably-less-glamorous (yet no less engaging) experiences in home towns, nearby cities and staycations — even theme parks.

After all, a fish butty from Coventry’s Binley Mega Chippy hardly compares to a five-star all-inclusive in The Seychelles, does it?

Indeed, #TravelTikTok is chock full of a wide-ranging inspiration: golden retriever experiences in Somerset , monkey forests in Stoke on Trent , top Cornwall staycation spots — or even places you’ve never even heard of (like a Sea of Stars in the Maldives ).

TikTok & the travel industry — a fast-growing, go-to getaway inspiration hub

Predominantly, TikTok acts as a highly visual, video-led hub for tourism inspiration, tips and guides — very much ‘show, don’t tell’ with highly-consumable, aesthetically engaging and authentic content. As TikTok users with an interest in travel interact with travel videos and their creators, they are then served more of this type of content on their ‘for you’ page.

Interestingly, too, many people are increasingly using TikTok proactively as part of their travel plans. Almost like a search engine, users are actively seeking things to do in their destination of choice — clearly presenting opportunities for travel content creators and brands alike.

What do travel TikTok users ‘look like’?

Based on TikTok’s own data of those who watched content with the #TravelTikTok hashtag — the most popular travel hashtag on the platform…

63% are aged 18–24

33% are aged 25–34

So, the majority of #TravelTikTok is relatively young — Generation Z — but they’re certainly an important demographic for travel brands. Globally, 39% of Gen Z use social media platforms like TikTok to help plan their holidays, with one-fifth following travel influencers on social media. This is a particular trend amongst those living in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Greece and Iceland.

Apart from the #TravelTikTok hashtag, those with an interest in travel are also consuming videos under the #Vacation, #TravelLife, #Forest, #TravelTok, #Rollercoaster, #ThemePark, #Getaway and #AllInclusive hashtags.

Wanting to tap into a group seeking more travel experiences as they leave school, college and university and more gain financial independence? These are your people.

What do #TravelTikTok users want and care about?

First and foremost, #TravelTikTok users are using social media in order to seek out new and unique experiences for great social media content — 43% of Generation Z and 37% of Millennials (aged 26-41), according to YouGov. Both demographics show a fairly equal desire for domestic (41%) and international (34%) holidays and travel.

There’s also a strong desire for more travelling; a quarter of Gen Z plan to take two trips annually, with 16% planning three getaways per year.

18–24 year olds are also keen to invest to achieve their travel goals with four in 10 planning to spend more on travel products and services over the next year. This compares to a quarter of Millennials and a fifth of 35-44 and 45-54 year olds. Gen Z are more open to saving and splurging when it comes to travel.

That said, price is a barrier to some — 37% of Gen Z, to be precise — which shows the benefit and attraction of offers and clear value messaging.

Sustainable travel is also important to #TravelTikTok users (and those all-important Gen Z users). 28% of this demographic would prefer to stay in eco-friendly or green accommodation and this group also over-indexes for volunteering and ecotourism style holidays.

So, unique experiences and eco-friendly travel are two interesting themes powering Gen Z and #TravelTikTok consumer behaviour.

12 top tips for driving travel and tourism bookings using TikTok

The average TikTok user in the UK spends 27.3 hours per month engaging with content on TikTok , and our travel-hungry Gen Z and Millennial audiences are no exception. If you’re a travel brand wanting to tap into these tourism-happy, eager-to-spend demographics, TikTok content creation should be a key part of your social media strategy.

From ensuring your content entertains (rather than sells) to working with the right creators and using the top-trending sounds, there are many ways that travel brands can crack #TravelTikTok to create engaging, inspiring and discovery-driving content!

1. Create TikTok content that entertains, rather than sells

75% TikToks users come to the platform to be entertained . So start by listing all the things that make your experience unique, fun, interesting and unmissable. Then use video to tell the story around each of those experiences - and don’t forget to put your ideal customer at the heart of it.

Your content doesn’t necessarily have to be uber high quality or super polished; keep the focus on what’s distinctive about you — the story you’re trying to tell, rather than trying to sell anything other than the dream.

2. Nail down the who and the what

#TravelTikTok is broad and diverse. Are you about romantic getaways, family vacations, hotel breaks, budget breaks or all-out luxury? Your creative, caption, voiceover, hashtags and any copy (hooks) within your video content should reflect who you’re targeting.

In the story you tell, you need to clearly distinguish what you’re offering. What’s the occasion? A short break, day at the zoo, road trip, special occasion (wedding, birthday, anniversary), walking, hiking, an escape to nature, activity-fuelled adventure (surfing or climbing)?

3. Have a good hook

You’re going to want to capture your audience's attention in the first 3 seconds of your video, or you risk them scrolling past your content never to be seen again. So here’s eight of our favourite tried and tested hooks to get you started:

This is your sign to…

How to do [insert destination] on a budget

Here’s what [insert destination] is really like

3 places you have to visit in [destination]

POV: You just arrived at [insert destination]

Things to do at [insert destination] part 1

Here’s why you need to travel to [insert destination]

Let me tell you about…

Given that many Gen Z users — the mainstay of #TravelTikTok — may not have (or could only just be gaining) financial independence, presenting yours as a ‘budget friendly’ way of enjoying a place or experience can be powerful. Millennials may also appreciate it greatly, given cost of living pressures.

4. Work with creators

Having someone else tell your story can not only relieve you of some of the workload, but can be more compelling and authentic, allowing you to tap into the creator’s engaged, established following.

One of our favourite ways to do this at the moment is to use TikTok’s creator marketplace to find and contact creators in your region and industry.

You can also manually research the top creators based on keywords and hashtags relating to your travel experience. TikTok’s search feature is only getting better; use it to discover hashtags and phrases that fit your travel niche and identify those actively creating high-performing content.

Whilst we’ve only ever used it for Instagram campaigns, TRIBE is a well-known influencer platform that was recently announced as TikTok’s official marketing partner at the Cannes Lions International Festival. Certainly one to explore!

5. Use the top trending travel sounds

TikTok users search by sounds to discover further related content, and these sounds themselves can trend on a platform. Using those that are enjoying popularity can make your TikTok travel content more discoverable.

Search the travel hashtags on TikTok — #TravelTikTok, #vacation, #travellife, #forest, #TravelTok, #rollercoaster, #themepark, #getaway, #allinclusive, #budgetfriendlytravel. Which sounds — the audio accompanying the clips — are popular or trending? Select the sound in the bottom-right corner and choose ‘use this sound’ for your next video.

You’ll need a creator account (rather than a business account) to do this.

6. Use relevant hashtags when creating your videos

TikTok captions are limited to 300 characters, so with this in mind try to stick to no more than 3-5 hashtags.

When creating the caption to accompany your video, make use of those hashtags your customers will be browsing — these might be trending, local or incredibly niche. Think #ThingsToDoInLondon, #sustainabletravel, #budgetfriendlytravel or even #rollercoaster, #zoo or #travelbucketlist!

7. Use postcodes of your travel experience

If you’re a domestic tourist attraction, including address details (perhaps most simply, a postcode) can help people easily discover how quickly they’re able to reach you. Be sure to make them wait until the end of the video to grab it, however to maximise watch time!

8. Make use of city targeting ads (when they are available)

These are coming soon and will enable you to geo-target your ads — clearly a more efficient, effective way of reaching those closest to you and your travel experience.

9. Increase your watch time

Keep users engaged and waiting until the end of your video; on tenterhooks for a reveal, discount code or post code. The more people who watch your videos, the more likely the content is to be served up to other users.

10. Replies to questions and comments with a video

Engaging with questions and comments in the replies of your content helps to answer individual queries your potential customers may have, but by also posting a video reply it helps to grow your community, too, by sharing the response with a much broader audience.

This is a popular video format for any brand in any industry, but let’s say a user asks ‘what’s inside those glamping pods 🤔’ — you can reply to the individual by creating a new TikTok video showing the inside of the pod with their comment overlaid.

11. Be the best travel guide you can possibly be

Add value for users — go that extra mile. Become the ultimate travel resource for your niche, attraction type or destination.

You might want to create video playlists . This is a way of curating your public videos into a series so people visiting your TikTok profile can watch them one after another. You could create a playlist around each of your locations or a guide to your local area.

Just as importantly, be real . This provides your content with that all-important authenticity and is a hot trend right now. Show people the real experience in expectation-versus-reality style videos - this can be flipped one of two ways.

You could either challenge the perception in a positive way — you thought it was going to be rubbish, but it’s actually amazing. OR this place looks idyllic, but it’s actually super busy and crowded, so here’s the best time to go (or where to go) instead.

Another way to add value to your video — tell, don’t sell — is to provide tips and advice. After all, who would say ‘no’ to having some of their pre-trip research done for them? This might include ideas about what to wear, where to go, what to eat, where to drink, the best photo opportunities near your destination.

12. Integrate your Instagram and TikTok strategy

Did you know 83.9% of TikTok users are also on Instagram ? This presents an ideal opportunity to grow your Instagram followers, from those who have only recently discovered you on TikTok.

A simple first step to link the two is to visit your TikTok profile, select ‘edit profile’ and then scroll down to the link to ‘add Instagram to your profile’. Then repeat the same in your Instagram profile.

And when it comes to content, this isn’t about sharing the exact same video content from TikTok onto your Instagram Reels - a practice which both platforms actively discourage. Especially when you consider the high audience percentage overlap on both channels. Make sure the content is unique to each platform, it doesn’t always have to be completly different, just tweaked to the channel.

That being said, you can repurpose content you’ve created (without the watermark and sounds) in TikTok to create further content on Instagram, just be sure to add your sounds in Instagram directly to get the reach they deserve.

Our favourite TikTok travel and tourism marketing examples so far

It’s a powerful, popular platform for connecting with tourism consumers, but how exactly are some brands out there harnessing it to drive awareness? Here’s just a few of our favourites and why we like them…

MillLodgeRetreat

Tucked away in Doddinghurst, Essex you’ll find nine glamping pods popular with anglers at Mill Lodge Retreat. Sounds fairly unassuming, right? Hold on a minute.

Modest though they may be in terms of size, modest in terms of TikTok travel content they most certainly are not. At the time of writing, @MillLodgeRetreat have amassed an incredible 39,200 followers and over 307.6k likes on their videos.

This is the perfect example of a relatively small, niche travel brand absolutely nailing their TikTok content — proving you don’t have to be a hugely established brand to put the rocket boosters under your brand awareness with TikTok. Just make sure you work hard to incorporate all the tactics we mentioned earlier!

We all know that the budget airline doesn’t tend to shy away from leveraging social media to get people talking or to poke fun at, well, pretty much anything. When it comes to their TikTok content creation strategy, they haven’t let us down.

Ryanair primarily post relatable, hilarious branded content that gets users talking, sharing, laughing and engaging — with trending sounds and filters duly incorporated throughout their videos. They don’t sell seats, they are here for the entertainment (and brand) value.

UK Hidden Gems

Despite only getting on the TikTok hype in October 2021, they’ve wasted no time in treating us to a treasure trove of tourism content. Having started out on Instagram, they’re now better known for treating TikTok users to hidden gem content. After all, #TravelTikTok is all about discovery — meaning UK Hidden Gems ’ approach is ‘perfect, perfect, perfect’!

Travel influencers

It’s not all about travel businesses or brands — in fact, the majority of the most-watched Travel TikTok content appears to come from those all important influencers and creators.

Which is important as 48% of active TikTok users with an interest in travel living in the UK have followed creator accounts on TikTok in the last month .

Starting with Aytan Abbasli, the face behind the @uktravel TikTok account. Abbasli provides a huge breadth of content to inspire travel across the whole of the UK; from the Isle of Skye to Durdle Door. What makes her content effective? She appeals to both people visiting the UK from abroad and to Brits looking for something new. She even has a video showing you the best places to take wisteria photos in London, helping her followers to get the perfect Instagram snap!

@girlsaroundscotland showcase things to do and things to eat across Scotland. They often partner with brands and restaurants to provide exposure and a tourist’s eye view of their visits. Again, they appeal to locals and tourists alike with their content. If you’re visiting Edinburgh, you’ll never be short of places to eat thanks to Ailsa and Lyndsey!

@cjexplores — Cory and Char — are married travel vloggers and have racked up millions of views, over 900,000 likes and over 37,400 followers (at the time of writing). How’ve they done it? With videos that are typically short and sweet, but with an incredible hook. Think ‘you have to see’, ‘can you believe this is England’...

Another top-notch travel TikToker is @milliegoochuk . Millie is founder of Sober Girl Society and curator of ‘wholesome fun’ (it’s almost her trademark) experiences on TikTok. From weekends away in Scotland to #thingtodoinLondon, Millie’s content adopts an inclusive ‘come with me’ style — super popular on this platform.

UnseenWonders

Whilst TikTok entertains and educates, it also serves to inspire so when you explore @UnseenWonders ’ profile, you can easily see why they’ve got 2.7M followers and over 50M views — on just one video.

Their content is very much bucket list-focused; showcasing hotels, places and experiences in fewer than 60 seconds. They’ve nailed the magical combination of dreamy travel footage (who can resist it?) paired with trending sounds.

… but which travel brands are missing out?

Our research showed that 58.3% of TikTok-loving travellers use booking.com to secure their adventures. But, whilst they’ve claimed their TikTok account @bookingcom , at the time of writing they’ve only posted one video.

Whilst they’re clearly a well known brand in the travel industry, we can’t help but think of all that missed opportunity from not investing in a TikTok content creation strategy! We’ll be notbooking.com, on this occasion…

Looking to level up your travel TikTok tactics?

Getting it right on #TravelTikTok is largely about increasing your discoverability by creating unique and entertaining content that’s native to the platform and that adds value, shortens the research process and makes people think ‘I wish I was there’.

Whether that’s discovery of hidden gems in their home country or inspiration for a trip that’s further afield, research shows 77% of TikTokers are inspired to go to a travel destination because of content they saw on TikTok and 49% of them have booked a trip or purchased a product.

If you’re a travel or tourism brand and need a helping hand with your TikTok strategy, give us a nudge — our award-winning team offers a range of TikTok marketing services and would be delighted to help you start your adventure on this platform!

Want to succeed on TikTok in tourism and travel?

Head of Social

Since forming Extreme’s social media department back in 2012, our Head of Social Donna and her team’s work has been recognised nationally. With extensive experience spanning mutiple sectors, Donna specialises in social strategy, ideation and paid social advertising.

Paid Social Strategist

Laura joined Team Extreme in 2017 and through the years has refined her social media skills to become our Paid Social Strategist. She works with our social clients to plan and execute content across a broad range of sectors and channels, helping clients maximise their results and ROI.

Social Media Strategist

Extreme's resident Instagram queen, Beth lives and breathes all things social media! After graduating with a degree in Advertising, she explored all aspects of the digital world before firmly finding her feet in the land of social. Day to day, you can find her brainstorming for campaigns, drafting up witty content and strategising to help clients soar on social.

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A Guide To Tiktok Ads For Travel And Tourism Brands

The average U.S. TikTok user spends  24 hours per month  on the app, which makes it one of the most used social platforms that exists today. And TikTok’s popularity is only increasing: It was  the most downloaded  non-gaming app in 2020 and now ranks as the  second-biggest app  in consumer spend.

TikTok ads for travel can help tour operators  tap into a new market  of travelers — and it might not be as difficult as you think.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of using TikTok ads to promote your travel brand, including how to set up your first ad.

How can travel and tourism companies use TikTok ads?

Do tiktok ads work.

How much does a TikTok ad cost?

Where do TikTok ads show up in the app?

How to set up my first TikTok ad campaign

• Step 1:  Get access to the TikTok Ads platform
• Step 2:  Create your first campaign
• Step 3:  Create a new ad group
• Step 4:  Upload your ad

5 best practices for running TikTok ads

Hook the viewer within the first 3 seconds

Add background music, adapt trends to your niche, compelling call-to-action.

TikTok ad campaign examples

Experience Penang

Visit estonia.

More than 23 billion videos have been shared with the hashtag  #TikTokTravel , and that number will continue to grow as more people start to travel again.

Travel content with the hashtags #travel #holiday and #flying  peaked in April 2021 , which goes to show that TikTok is becoming a popular platform for travel inspiration. 

This makes the app more attractive for travel and tourism companies aiming to reach younger generations.

Yet TikTok also has a growing population of Millennials, Gen Xs, and Boomers. Over  60% of users  are aged between 20 and 49 years old — and people 50 and over now make up more than 11% of the app’s users.

The app is home to a highly engaged audience, one that tour operators and travel brands can tap into with TikTok ads. Moreso, TikTok gives you the chance to target travelers when they’re just starting their bucket lists.

MorningConsult found that  49% of Gen Z adults and 50% of millennials  follow at least one travel influencer on  social media . The majority of them — over 80% — say they usually use influencers for recommendations.

In fact,  57% of Gen Zers  with summer travel plans said they’ll specifically turn to social media to help them prep for their trips.

Travel brands are realizing that TikTok ads can reach travelers while they’re in this active planning stage and can therefore influence their trip decisions early on.

TikTok content can also reach more people in an organic way than Instagram or Facebook can because of its algorithm. The sheer number of people on the app — and the amount of time they’re scrolling — also makes it a promising platform for travel ads.

Brands can use  TikTok’s self-serve ad platform  to create and manage their own campaigns. The platform functions similarly to Facebook’s Ad Manager, where you can define your budget, ad placement, and target audience.

Infleucener campaigns, on the other hand, can be done outside of TikTok’s ad platform. A brand can reach out to an influencer directly and negotiate a deal directly with the creator. The influencer will then publish a TikTok video promoting the brand and will disclose their partnership with the brand in the caption.

The app  overtook Facebook in terms of screen time  last year. An average user spent about 21 hours on the app per month in 2020, a big increase from 12 hours in 2019. That figure is already up to  24 hours  in 2021.

TikTok ads might also be better received by your audience due to the authentic nature of the app.

The video content shared on TikTok is driven by authenticity. The platform encourages people to share their unfiltered, silly selves, a direct contrast to Instagram, which is widely viewed as a perfectly edited highlight reel of someone’s life.

How much does a TikTok ad cost? 

Here comes the catch: Investing in TikTok ads can cost a pretty penny compared to Instagram and Facebook.

TikTok ads start at  $10 per CPM  (cost per 1000 views), and there are minimum spend requirements. You’re required to spend  a minimum of $50  per day on the campaign level, and at least $20 per day with ad groups.

Reports show it can cost brands as much as  $50,000 to $150,000  for campaigns like taking over a popular TikTok channel or hosting a hashtag challenge.

Makeup brand NYX, for example, developed  a hashtag challenge  that encouraged the beauty community to record a TikTok while applying a lip product called “Butter Gloss.” TikTok users could also click through the videos to an integrated shopping experience.

The NYX #ButterGlossPop hashtag challenge was viewed over 11 billion times and generated 2 million pieces of content. For NYX, that translated into a 42% increase in brand awareness. 

Tour operators with small marketing budgets can alternatively close a mutually beneficial deal with local influencers, which could be more cost-efficient.

Where do TikTok ads show up in the app? 

TikTok ads can appear in a variety of places within the app. The most traditional placement is an In-Feed Video ad that appears on the news feed and For You page.

A Brand Takeover takes this a step further. The ad is the first thing shown as soon as a user opens the app. It completely takes up the screen for a few seconds before turning into an in-feed video ad.

Brands can also experiment with a Hashtag Challenge. The ad would encourage users to participate in a content creation challenge using a branded hashtag and would appear on the Discover page, where trending hashtags and sounds are shown. 

Lastly, you can make an ad appear as branded effect used for editing videos, such as in a filter or sticker.

How to set up my first TikTok ad campaign 

Let’s walk through the steps of setting up your first TikTok ad.

Step 1: Get access to the TikTok Ads platform

The first step is to create a business account on TikTok. Your account has to be approved by TikTok before you can start creating ads.

Head to the  TikTok Ads homepage , and enter your country and account type. A TikTok representative will review your information and get back to you once your business is approved.

Note:  U.S. business accounts should already have access to the self-serve platform, where you can create In-Feed Video campaigns right away.

Step 2: Create your first campaign

Once approved, head to the “Campaign” tab to start creating your first ad.

Similar to Facebook and Instagram advertising, you’ll start by defining your campaign objective and a lifetime or daily budget.

Step 3: Create a new ad group

Next, you’ll define the ad placements, target audience, and schedule for different ad groups.

You can narrow down your target audience by demographics, interests, and devices. TikTok allows you to further customize your audience using contact data, website traffic, and ad engagement.

Then, you’ll configure the schedule and budget your ad groups.

Step 4: Upload your ad

You can then upload a video or a selection of images to create your TikTok ad. 

It’s recommended to keep your video 9 to 15 seconds long.

For more inspiration, explore TikTok’s  Creator Tools  to create the best video content for your audience.

When finished, you’ll submit your final ad for approval. Once it’s live, you can monitor its performance on your dashboard.

Note:  The recommended aspect ratio for TikTok ads is 16:9 or 1:1.

5 best practices for running TikTok ads 

Here are 5 tips to make sure your first TikTok ad is a success.

TikTok makes it really easy for users to scroll past a video they’re not interested in. Knowing this, advertisers should use engaging visuals, transitions, or sounds to hook a viewer in right away, preferably within the first three seconds of an ad.

The music on a TikTok video is often just as important as the video itself. Your videos should always have background music, and the catchier the song is, the better. 

Using trending songs and sounds can also help your video reach more people. Most fo the viral videos on TikTok are of different challenges — and most are based on a very specific sound. 

For example,  there’s a travel challenge  that tells users to start a video at home and finish it when they are on vacation. The challenge only works with that specific audio, which now has  over 30,000 videos  created with it.

To find trending songs, click the “Discover” tab. You can also find trending sounds by scrolling through videos on the app and noting down the ones you’re hearing repeatedly. You can click on any individual audio to see the number of videos created with it.

Users of all kinds participate in TikTok’s trends and challenges, which can range from a choreographed dance to pranks on family members. Trends tend to go viral very quickly. 

Brands that are creatively adapting trends to their niche are increasing awareness and growing engaged audiences on the app. European airline RyanAir  does a great job with this . RyanAir takes trending sounds and trends and adapts them to the aviation industry.

For a trend in which users are supposed to point out something they don’t care about, the airline uses an effect to personify one of its airplanes and lists the following comments it has received from users: “Why is an airline on TikTok?” “They don’t even fly to the USA.” “Where is the free airplane food?!”

The trending sound then says, “We do not care.” The video has been watched 4.5 million times.

Make sure to end your video with a compelling call to action. Do you want your viewers to book a tour after seeing your ad? If so, tell them where they can find a link to your website. Take it a step further and offer them a TikTok-only discount code.

If you want them to follow you, you can add overlay text at the end of the video saying “follow us for more travel content.” They’ll then know that you’ll be providing them with similar content in the future.

Make sure to call out the next best step your audience should take in the video itself or in the caption.

TikTok ad campaign examples 

Here are three examples of travel brands using TikTok to reach their audiences in creative ways.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6739823436790615301?lang=en&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fdeutrix.dev%2Fblog%2Fa-guide-to-tiktok-ads-for-travel-and-tourism-brands%2F

Tour operator Contiki launched a hashtag campaign to find a candidate to run its TikTok account.

Contiki encouraged applicants to share their best travel moments with the hashtag  #ContikiFindYourPeople . The hashtag challenge was a great way to find unique applicants that are actively using the app, as well as build awareness around the brand’s new social channel. The hashtag garnered 1.7 million views.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6895566939041565954?lang=en&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fdeutrix.dev%2Fblog%2Fa-guide-to-tiktok-ads-for-travel-and-tourism-brands%2F

The tourism board of the Malaysian state Penang uses a TikTok contest to build its audience to over 7,000. 

Users were encouraged to create a video using a custom song about the destination with the hashtag #JomPenangExpereince for a chance to win a free stay at top hotels in Penang. The video received over 44,000 views and the hashtag got over 134,000 views.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6909110097235021062?lang=en&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fdeutrix.dev%2Fblog%2Fa-guide-to-tiktok-ads-for-travel-and-tourism-brands%2F

Visit Estonia drove destination awareness  through a dance challenge . The European nation wanted encouraged people around the world to “dance the tough times away” by performing an Estonian folk dance known as Kaerajaan.

People were encouraged to use the custom music made for the challenge and record themselves dancing in front of the best-known landmarks in their region. Dozens of videos were published from  people recreating the dance .

Now we’ll leave you with some homework: Use this guide to start your TikTok account, if you don’t have one already.

Pull inspiration from the above examples to create your first TikTok ad, and report back to let us know how it’s going.

P.S. Don’t forget about us when you go viral.

Writer Carla Vianna

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TikTok For Tourism

We get it. It’s taken you years to perfect Facebook and Instagram marketing for your destination or business. Hey, maybe you’ve even managed to get some benefit out of Twitter too? Then, just as quickly as you started trumpeting about this ‘new mainstream’ in content marketing, along comes some young punk to disrupt everything!

TikTok, whether we like it or not, is here to stay – and if you, like many regions and operators out there have been left scratching your head about where to start (or even if you need to?) then we’re here to make life that little bit easier for you.

Let’s start with the numbers.

Okay. The statistics around TikTok are almost as ridiculous as the latest dance meme, no doubt about it! But... let’s walk through some of the more relevant ones, as outlined in this recent Hootsuite breakdown :

• TikTok was not only the most downloaded app of 2021, but also over the last three years!  In 2021 its growth eclipsed its nearest rival, Instagram, by more than 100,000 downloads.
• TikTok is now more popular than Instagram for Gen Z users (born 1997-2012), with a user base that skews slightly more female. But… despite its reputation for pulling youngsters in droves, it’s still not the ‘favourite’ app for any demographic - just yet anyway.
• TikTok's average user session is 10.85 minutes – making it the most engaging of all social apps. Recent research tells us most people are still mainly using it “to find funny/entertaining content.” BUT... they’re starting to watching longer videos, and away from the social channels we know.
• TikTok ad spending is HUGE and marketers are taking notice – ads can currently reach 17.9% of all internet users aged 18+. In a recent survey, the ‘perceived effectiveness’ of marketing on TikTok rose by 700% in 2020-2021 while Facebook and Instagram both dropped significantly.

Travel content on TikTok is growing massively.

TikTok may once have dominated by dance memes and lame prank videos, but it’s come a long way in a short time. Travel-related content is now a huge part of the content mix on this platform, and while many tourism destinations have held back on launching their own channels (just for now), a new generation of travel lovers and influencers ( like Elliot Grafton from South Australia ) have already taken the initiative by creating their own highly engaging and inspiring video content.

According to Skift , content shared with the hashtag  #tiktoktravel  has attracted around 24.5 billion views (as of May 2021), with  #wanderlust  attracting 1.1 billion views and  #traveldiaries  around 2.2 billion views. That’s a whole lot of eyeballs - and with video being the centrepiece of TikTok’s world , you can see why other platforms like Facebook and Instagram (likewise tourism destinations and operators) are now getting serious about it as well.

But do I even need TikTok?

Contrary to what the above might tell you, Facebook and Instagram aren’t dying. In fact, according to We Are Social’s breakdown of Australia’s favourite social media platforms , they’re still sitting at the top of the tree – by a long shot.

The fact is that like anything related to marketing, you need to have a good think about who you’re targeting to determine if this platform is really the right fit for you and your business. Remember: the marketing channels you choose should always be dictated by who your Ideal Customers are , and where you can best grab their attention.

If you’re a regional B&B whose Ideal Customers are empty nesters or retirees looking for a quiet break away from the city, odds are you won’t see much benefit in using TikTok, given it skews towards a much younger demographic. However, if you’re an adventure tour operator whose Ideal Customers are backpackers and hipsters (read: Gen Z) then it’s well worth considering as part of your mix. Maybe you’re a funky café that pulls the ‘it’ crowd ? Perhaps a futuristic museum whose demo sits just out of high school ? Worth plenty of consideration then, we think.

Likewise for tourism destinations – remember your bread and butter! Your Ideal Customers - and the channels you use to reach them - should remain your most important foundation. If that’s Facebook and Instagram for you, then stick with them - and them only. But it’s also important to acknowledge that nothing stays the same forever.

Things can and do change very quickly. Fact is, today’s TikTok users will ultimately become tomorrow’s travellers to your destination and/or business. We haven’t met an 18-year-old that’s stayed a teenager forever, and odds are you haven’t either. And as we all know, they can also sway their parents’ travel decisions in a big way! So with all that in mind, be discerning – but you can’t completely ignore TikTok forever…

A few quick considerations before leaping in:

• Put your overall Destination Management and/or Marketing Plan in context. Like all social media platforms, TikTok takes time. There’s no point spreading your limited resources thin by running 3-4 social media channels poorly. Focus on those most relevant to your needs and do them well. If that means putting TikTok on the lay-away plan for a while, then so be it.
• If now isn’t the right time to look at TikTok, it’s still worth claiming your @username – before anyone else can grab it. If and when the time comes for you to get active, you’ll be ready. While you’re waiting, it’s also worth doing a little reconnaissance just to understand the landscape. Check some of the more popular tourism and travel-related profiles to see what they’re posting. Consider setting up a personal profile so you can explore and play around a bit first.
• Are users already posting about you on TikTok? Hey! You’re a star and you didn’t even know it… Well, maybe not. But wouldn’t it be good to know at the very least? Online reviews are highly influential – so it’s important to know what users are saying about you. Maybe there’s more people talking about you than you thought? Are your competitors active? How much are they posting?

Where to start? What to know?

Okay. If you think it’s in your interests to really start getting serious about TikTok, there’s a few things to know. Such as… how to set up your channel, who to follow, how to find relevant content, and… what sort of dance moves you can bring (easy tiger, no pressure okay?)!

If you don’t know your FYP from your POV, well… TBH, you need to get up to speed quickly! Here’s a few important things to know, straight off the bat…

TikTok is all about mobile, and all about video.

No, really. It’s almost all about vertical video. While you can still add photos to your TikToks, it’s how you incorporate them into one single creative moving piece that really matters. Importantly, you don’t need to be Spielberg to take full advantage either. Far from it, in fact! If you’ve got a smartphone with a half-decent camera on it (is there any other kind these days?), you’re good to go.

This place is all about real, authentic content. Sure, there’s filters and all that other stuff, but at the end of the day, this is about grabbing the audience’s attention with something either really beautiful, really entertaining – or totally different.

Sounds are even bigger than hashtags.

According to Hubspot , over 88% of TikTok users say that sound is central to their overall experience on the platform. It’s pivotal. While hashtags will definitely help reach your audience (we’ll get to that later), sound is the golden duck.

Trends are everything.

Trends also move super quickly on this platform (take one look at the #trendalert hashtag and you’ll see what we mean). Being aware of what the current ones are and incorporating this into your own videos can help you reach a much wider audience, FAST. Mind you, it’s also super important to recognise that not all of them are going to be relevant. If they don’t align with your Ideal Customer(s), brand voice or values, you’re best skipping over them. Stick with the ones you can use, and remember - no two days are the same.

Focus on interactions, not followers.

Don’t be surprised to see big brands with a handful of followers here. The TikTok algorithm focuses its attention on posts that achieve high levels of interactions (views and likes), within the first hour of posting. If you’re gauging success by followers alone, you’re missing out on the good stuff.

The TikTok algorithm.

The TikTok algorithm is a little different to other social media platforms, which tend to prioritise content with mass appeal in a ‘traditional, crowd-pleasing’ sense. TikTok favours ’long-tail content’ and essentially ensures that any video - created by anyone (no matter how unknown) will be exposed to at least some users.

The more users watch and engage with your (or you to others’) content will also inform TikTok’s algorithm as to what to push out – i.e. material matching your/their interest niche interests and tastes.

How to set up an account – the Profile tab.

First up, grab your mobile and download the official app from the App store or Google Play (duh, of course, right?). Like other platforms, when setting things up you’ll need to assign an email and/or phone number for security and password recovery. You’ll also have a chance to sync your phone and Facebook contacts list at this point.

Ideally you should choose a username (@username) that’s an identical match to your Instagram and other social accounts as this will make it nice and easy for your audience to find you. If your exact username isn’t available, obviously try the next best thing – but just make it very clear who you are.

You’ll also want to add a bio – you only have 80 characters to play with here, so make it super clear and punchy. Using emojis here can be a handy work-around and they also add personality. You might also consider publicising your official #hashtag. Oh, and definitely, definitely - link up your Instagram and/or YouTube accounts here too.

Remember you’re here for business. Just like other social platforms, it’s important to separate your personal life from the one you have here. If you want a personal account for a bit of fun and research, then open one. But your business TikTok should be totally separate. This is a marketing tool and should be treated as such. With that in mind, it’s important to switch to a Business account so you can get access to data and insights (think: who your audience is, when they’re most active, and what sort of content they like) - this will help you refine your strategy over time.

To switch to a Business account, tap the three line pancake in the top right of your profile screen – then hit ‘Settings and Privacy’, ‘Manage account’ and ‘Switch to Business Account’ (you can switch back to a personal account at any time, by the way).

Beyond getting access to data and insights from now on (see your new ‘Business Suite’), you can importantly link up your email as a call-to-action here too. Adding your website link may or may not be available just now (always worth checking), but if it is – do it! Generally speaking, the only way TikTok accounts with fewer than 10,000 followers can send people off-platform is by referring people back to this in your captions.

Another option might be to add a Q&A button to your profile like @visitnsw and @sealifesydneyaquarium . This is a handy way to encourage more two-way conversation between users and your business – but you need to be prepared to service their queries in a timely manner ! To add the button, tap the three line pancake in the top right of your profile screen – then hit ‘Q&A’, and tap the three dots in the top right corner. But rest assured - if you don't have enough resources to spend time answering daily questions, it's best to park the idea until you can.

Naturally for security reasons, we’d also suggest choosing a robust password that’s not a repeat of anything else you’ve used elsewhere.

While you’re in the ‘Settings and privacy’ tab, it’s important to ensure your account is optimised and secure in the back end.

• Under ‘Account’, head to the ‘Privacy’ tab and under ‘Discoverability’ just ensure the toggle to ‘Private account’ is switched off (if you’re a parent, this is the one you’ll want your kids to have ON for their profiles)! It’s also worth activating all toggles under ‘Suggest your account to others’ to start enabling you to be found via other people’s phone contacts and social profiles.
• Under ‘Safety’ head to ‘Downloads’ and toggle off (ensures others can’t download and republish your content), and in the ‘Comments’ section select ‘Everyone’ and apply any relevant spam/offensive word filters (remember you’re a brand channel, so it pays to have some rules to avoid legal issues). You’ll also want to enable messages from Everyone under ‘Direct messages’ too. Most other fields are probably optional as to what level of access you’d like to allow, but generally speaking as a Business you want to be as open and accessible as possible to encourage maximum forms of engagement.
• Now head for ‘Security and login’– if you don’t want some malicious hijacker stealing your account, you’ll need to lock it down as soon as you can by switching on ‘2-step verification’. It’s here you can set your preferred security method and add that all-important backup email.
• ‘Balance’ is effectively your TikTok wallet - no need to go into this right now, but if you’d like to know more about the various monetization aspects of TikTok and rewards offered to Creators (who can make some serious money on this platform), then you can read more about all of that right here .

Now tap the ‘Profile’ tab at the bottom right of your mobile screen – is everything there that needs to be? You don’t have any content yet, but your blank profile should now be set up in a way that clearly articulates who you are, what you offer, where else you can be found - and how to get in touch.

Discover tab.

See that little ‘Discover’ icon that looks like a compass at the bottom of your screen? That’s a good place to start looking for and engaging with other users and hashtags.

Tap into it and you’ll see all the latest trending sounds, hashtags and effects lumped together – they’re not likely relevant to you at first glance but knowing what’s trending can be key to success on this platform, particularly sounds and hashtags.

There’s also a little QR scanner icon at the top right of screen – this can also take you straight to the profile of a user if you’re shown their QR code (every user has a unique one – find yours under ‘Settings and privacy’).

Head to the Search bar and firstly, you’ll see TikTok auto-populates suggested searches based on trending topics (good to know when planning content). Now try entering a search phrase –  be as specific as possible, and ideally something relevant. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be served up a bunch of sub-pages (top of screen) to help refine your search even further:

• Top : serves up a curated selection of Users, Videos and Hashtags chosen by TikTok’s algorithm
• Users: as above, but Users only – those with a blue tick (verified) will likely swim to the top
• Videos: similar again – you’ll see videos from users you follow here first, then others.
• Sounds: audio relevant to your search term – FYI: music is huge on TikTok (we’ll get to that later)
• LIVE: users that are currently broadcasting LIVE (only open to accounts with over 1000 followers)
• Hashtags: it’s worth searching for and ‘favouriting’ any relevant ones here

Importantly, the number of videos that fall within your search category will give you important insight into trends that are rising (hop on board!) and others that may have burned out (meh…).

Setting a good ‘following strategy’ is also important from the outset. This will not only tell TikTok more about you and the sort of content and/or users you’re seeking to engage with and publish - but also put other key accounts on notice to maybe follow you back.

Start by following accounts that are relevant to your business. In the first instance, that’s your National, State and Regional Tourism Organisation accounts (eg. @australia , @thisisqueensland , @visitwhitsundays ). Check out who they’re following, and who’s following them – it’ll likely lead you to other relevant accounts. If you know of any local influencers, it’s worth searching for them at this point too, and repeating the same exercise.

The same goes for favouriting any official hashtags and ones relevant to your business – once again, a good place to start are those promoted by National, State and Regional Tourism Organisations (e.g. #seeaustralia , #thisisqueensland , #lovewhitsundays ).

Once you’ve found a few accounts and hashtags to follow and favourite, you’ll also begin seeing their content flowing through in the Home tab, which we’ll go into next.

Head back to the bottom of your mobile screen. At the bottom and far left you’ll see the ‘Home’ tab – click on this and you’ll find two main sub-pages at the top:

Oh, lordy... THIS is what TikTok is ALL about. By default, TikTok will serve this one up to you first. For that very reason, that’s exactly why everyone wants their content to appear on the #FYP, as it’s where most eyeballs tend to end up! That’s of course dictated by the almighty TikTok algorithm (again, we’ll get to that in more detail later).

But in a nutshell, this is where all the stuff that TikTok deems as the best and most relevant to YOU (and you only) sits. Remember when we told you to follow and engage with relevant accounts and hashtags? That’s partly where this comes in. The algorithm is already learning what you like and what you don’t, so based on your behaviour the content on your ‘For You’ page should gradually become more relevant over time (though right now, it probably looks like a jumbled mess of random stuff). Think of it like Instagram’s ‘Explore’ page.

At this point, it’s worth liking and/or commenting on anything here that tickles your fancy. Just remember to keep your business hat on – the algorithm is learning all about you so it can start serving up the most relevant content (and users) for you to engage with in future.

As you’re making your way through, pay attention to videos with massive amounts of likes and views – perhaps it’s because of a particular trend? To investigate further, check the sound button on the bottom right corner of the video to find the song name, as well as the number of other videos using it. Incorporating trending songs into your own videos is a great way to ride that TikTok train to a wider audience - just be sure it fits your content. It’s important also to note here that while Business profiles get access to a whole range of extra features and functionality that’s relevant to them, the entire music catalogue of TikTok (and just about every artist ever) – isn’t one of them. For copyright reasons, businesses are restricted to using music in the Commercial Library for now.

Okay, back to those accounts you’re following... This is where their published content will appear – either their latest, best performing or most relevant material. Once again, it’s worth liking and/or commenting on relevant posts you see here. It’s a good way to catch their attention - and importantly also put yourself in front of their own audiences.

Other icons on your Home tab:

Besides the two main pages we’ve covered above, you’ll also see a ‘LIVE’ icon at the top left of your Home tab, offering for easy access to users broadcasting right NOW. At the top right, there’s also a handy little magnifying glass that takes you straight back to the search field of the ‘Discover’ tab.

This is where all your notifications will start appearing, and an important place to visit regularly to stay in touch with your audience and engage back with them.

By default, TikTok will display ‘All Activity’ here – which combines any likes or comments users leave on your content, as well as mentions and @tags, along with a simple list of who’s following you. Just click the down arrow to sift according to what you’d like to see.

You’ll also see a Q&A section here, which is full a run-down of all users’ questions to you – and your answers back to them, which is most relevant if you’ve enabled the Q&A button on your profile. Just keep in mind also however that users can still pose questions on your videos by designating their comment as a ‘Q&A’ – so you’ll also find them living right here, where you can answer them individually.

Create tab.

This is obviously THE key button to press when you’re ready to start sharing your own content. We could go on forever about all the staggering number of effects, filters and features you can draw upon when creating content here but remember – it’s all about trial and error. Don’t be afraid to have a go!

If you’ve already set up a personal (and maybe private) TikTok account on the side (always a good idea!) you might want to use this as your testing ground to experiment with the myriad creative options at your fingertips. Put simply…. there’s a LOT. With such an overwhelming number of nips, tucks and fillers in the Create arsenal, the only real way to get a handle on them (and what you feel comfortable with) is by diving right in. Keep in mind also that new features are being added almost daily – this makes it a genuine labyrinth, even for the fully initiated!

How to Create a post, in a nutshell:

• Videos can range from a matter of seconds to 3 minutes (TikTok recently expanded this to 10 minutes, but it hasn’t been rolled out to everyone just yet).
• The ‘Quick’ tab is your default - and is fine for most things. From here you can select images and/or photos straight off your phone’s camera roll and start creating your masterpiece.
• The ‘Camera’ tab gives you the option to film material on the go.
• The ‘Templates’ tab offers a range of pre-sets you can fill with your own content.
• On the right-hand side of your screen, there’s a raft of options that enable you to do anything from adding text and stickers, applying effects and filters, adjusting video length, enhancing colours and contrast, add captions for accessibility, or even dub a voiceover onto your video.
• ‘Add sound’ is super important and sits top and centre of the Create screen – this is where you can choose from a range of commercial songs (remember, Business accounts are restricted to these) or TikTok’s full selection of artists and tracks (Personal accounts) to add to your video.

Your caption:

Hit ‘Next’ once you’re happy with your video. From here it’s time to add your description (that’s ‘caption’, BTW). Be aware, there's a 300-character limit for TikTok video descriptions (including hashtags) and they can’t currently be edited once you’ve posted them - so we’d suggest planning what you’d like to say ahead of time.

We’d suggest limiting yourself to 5-6 hashtags maximum . Once again, it’s a good idea to start by using the official hashtags from your National, State and Regional Tourism Organisations to grab their attention. Then consider others that are either relevant (e.g. #tiktoktravel), trending and/or hyper-specific to the content itself. By doing your research beforehand, you’ll get a good feel for what people are using the most around certain themes.

You’ll also see tags like #fyp , #foryou , and #foryoupage being used pretty often by users trying to get onto the ‘For You’ page. Nobody except TikTok knows if these even work, but hey – perhaps they’re also worth trying here and there.

On a side note – there’s no point adding a trending hashtag if your content has nothing to do with it. That’s just creating more spam (and probably a few eye rolls)!

Select cover

Okay, this is an important one. When users visit your profile, you want to catch their attention straight off the bat. Just as the top nine images on your Instagram feed should serve as a strong visual snapshot of your brand (and just how awesome you are), it’s also key to select the most visually engaging part of your TikTok video as its cover. Video covers here are animated with a split second of movement – and should ideally tease the user’s eye enough to convince them to keep viewing.

Automatically share to:

Just as we’d advise for other social media platforms, cross posting your video from TikTok to Instagram and/or Facebook really isn’t best practice. Native uploads are key to success on any channel, so we’d suggest that you hold off on tapping those extra buttons at the bottom when sharing your content.

If you think what you’ve posted on TikTok can be used elsewhere, you might instead consider making a similar style Reel on the other platforms and posting it natively there. Besides, TikTok makes it so blindingly obvious you’ve cross-posted its content by placing their logo directly onto your shared video. No escaping that one, buddy.

More options:

Here you can choose whether you want to save the video to your camera roll after posting. You can also enable ‘high-quality’ uploads – which we’d strongly suggest you do (because hey, who wouldn’t want to wear their best suit to the party, right)?

You don’t need to worry about the ‘Branded content’ section yet, but this area works in a similar way to Instagram where commercial relationships can be declared between a Creator and you as a brand.

Now post that video!

Now you’ve got through all of that, it’s time to hit that bright red ‘Post’ button and send your video out into the TikTok universe. As with any other social media channel - it’s over to you to engage, engage, engage with users after posting – a key strategy for building your own army of followers.

Content and Posting Tips.

• A good portion of videos that go viral are 30 seconds or less. TikTok may have its sights set on long-form video content too, but as of right now it’s the short stuff that’s making the most impact. The rationale behind this is likely related to how long people spend watching your video as a portion of its total broadcast time. (i.e. if you’ve posted a 15 second video, odds are you’ll have more people watching to the very end than a 3 minute one). This tells TikTok it’s engaging.
• Shoot and publish videos in 9:16 format (vertical) – like, duh… is there any other way?
• Quality counts – users are all about you being authentic here, but hey… not if you’re pixelated, obscured or a visual mess of any kind.
• Make your content relatable – shoot in the first person, introduce yourself, involve your team. People like to see behind the scenes and relate to brands on a more personal level.
• Make your content immersive – put yourself in the shoes of the person experiencing your destination or experience - showcase it from their viewpoint. Good ‘first person’ footage is gold.
• Grab users’ attention in the first few seconds - back to that immersive part… draw people in!
• Just because the filters and effects are there, it doesn’t mean you should use them! If you’re confident in the quality of your footage, let it sing naturally (remember: no visual mess). That being said, using an effect here and there - particularly ‘trending effects’ - will still help your standing in the TikTok algorithm. Just don’t overbake the pie, okay?
• Choose your music wisely – refer to everything we’ve previously written above. Videos should always be designed to play with the sound ON – make the music relevant to your footage (invoke emotion) and where possible, take advantage of trends.
• Make your caption engaging - it’s prime real estate. Think about stimulating people’s curiosity or initiating some sort of conversation.
• Be consistent - post regularly, and at the right time! Refer to your Business account’s analytics area for details. The algorithm also likes this, if you can manage it.
• Once you hit 1000 followers, consider going LIVE – at least once in a while. It’s a quick way to hit the ‘For You’ page and potentially expose your business to new audiences (but only if you can manage it).
• Allow others to ‘Stitch’ and ‘Duet’ to your content – ‘Stitch’ allows others to clip and integrate moments from your content into your own (and vice versa when creating), while ‘Duets’ allow users to react and engage with your video publicly, visually and to their audience. Both options encourage greater potential for reach and exposure beyond your own profile.
• Pin your best stuff to the top of your profile – if you’ve got a video that’s out-performing the rest (or maybe just highly topical right now) then pin that bad boy right at the top of your profile! Just open your content, tap the three dots and hit ‘pin’. It’ll even be slapped with a bright red ‘Pinned’ sticker just to grab it even more attention.

Engage, engage, engage.

• Basic community management rules apply here - if someone comments on one of your posts, engage back.
• Likewise, if people are posting about your business or destination - engage back.
• Outreach: if you find content that’s relevant, appealing, interesting or valuable – engage with it!
• The more you engage with other users (relevant and interested ones), the more you’ll build your profile, and the more your content will be seen.

But I suck at this…

Okay, you’re more comfortable on Facebook and Instagram where all your same-aged peeps are right now. Totally understandable!

But if you’ve got a young staff member that fits TikTok’s demo and does it well, let them shine, baby! By handing them creative control, they’ll most likely enjoy the challenge. It’ll not only boost their confidence and inspire them to perform for you, but they’ll probably boast about it to all their friends – that’s your new audience, BTW.

TikTok Stories.

At the time of writing, these are still in their infancy and in the process of rolling out to users, but they appear to be a new feature aimed squarely at taking on Instagram’s popular Stories feature. Similarly to that ‘other’ platform, TikTok Stories last for 24 hours before disappearing and can be viewed by clicking on the profile picture of any user.

TikTok Stories also allow you to use all the regular filters and effects as normal videos – just not so much with photos - and importantly, they’re now appearing on the ‘For You’ page. Any comments or replies you make to other users’ Stories (and theirs to yours) will also be displayed publicly - on Instagram it’s via direct message only.

Getting Started on TikTok – by TikTok!

Of course, these are our observations only, and only touch the surface of TikTok’s offerings from a tourism marketing perspective. There’s just so much to know about this platform that it’s still worth doing your own research and checking back regularly for updates – this space moves fast, and likewise, so will you.

TikTok themselves have published an a couple of excellent guides (and rightly so!) to Getting started on TikTok and well, just Getting started in general which are constantly updated, so we’d always encourage you to read through them both when the time comes to start setting things up – and periodically as you go along.

Final question: how to dance?

No, seriously. We only put this here just to frighten you! Put those blue suede shoes back in your wardrobe, okay? Unless you really love it - in which case… (but seriously, it’s probably not ‘The Sprinkler’ if that’s what you’re thinking).

Lachlan Swan

You may also like these related articles, a destination and tourism business’s guide to working with digital influencers, destination marketing: why it’s time for a rethink.

How TikTok travel trends are helping tour operators increase direct bookings

By Kevin Tjoe — 5 Apr 2023

bookings   increase bookings   marketing strategies   social media   tourism marketing

All everyone can talk about is how 2023 is the year of the experience. People of all ages are craving authentic experiences that expose them to new cultures, distinct flavors, and thrilling adventures. They want to be present and make connections with the people around them. And, as a result, the travel industry is booming. 

For decades, travelers have been searching for trip ideas online, but in recent years, TikTok has taken over as the primary source of inspiration. This social media app encourages users to create short-form videos that are insightful, engaging, and entertaining — and it’s wildly addicting. TikTok users have found a way to use the platform to showcase their travels, and therefore, TikTok travel trends are reshaping the tourism industry. Tour and activity operators — take note. The age of TikTok tourism has begun.

How TikTok is changing the tourism industry

TikTok has taken the social media world by storm, with the number of users exponentially increasing over the past several years. Today, TikTok boasts more than 1 billion users, and it is ranked as the third-largest social media platform.

In the travel industry, TikTok is still taking a backseat to Facebook and Instagram , which have long dominated the travel influencer market. However, that is not going to be the case for long. A Skift article notes that in 2022, 34% of travelers were inspired by the content they found on TikTok. Tour operators are noting the shift, with one in 10 tour operators relying on TikTok as part of their online marketing strategy. 

At this time, 20% of all travelers use social media for research. Of those that rely on social media for their travel inspiration, 27% seek to discover their next destination, 23% are searching for a hotel, and 22% are looking for activities in their chosen destination.

TikTok has the potential to shift the way that travelers enjoy local experiences because they are likely going to want to emulate the content they discovered on the platform. By paying attention to the type of travel content that is shared on TikTok and preparing your tour and activity company accordingly, you can be ahead of the TikTok tourism wave.

TikTok tourism marketing: what you need to know

Before you begin developing a TikTok tourism marketing strategy, you will want to understand the nuances of this social media platform. While Facebook offers a play-by-play into people’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and Instagram projects an idealistic version of a person’s perfectly-filtered life, TikTok is more about entertaining information presented in short, engaging snippets.

TikTok users average a whopping 25 hours per week on the platform, so it’s worthwhile to develop a TikTok account for your tour and activity brand. 

Within the tourism sector, boards and businesses are relying on TikTok to promote their destinations. Some of the most successful pages are taking different approaches, and it’s worth taking a look at them to understand what might work best for your tour and activity company. Here are some examples of successful TikTok accounts within the tourism industry:

Tour & activity operators

Shot Over Canyon Swing is a tour and activity company in New Zealand that offers thrilling experiences to its guests. Its TikTok page is filled with behind-the-scenes looks at travelers anxiously anticipating the experience, enjoying the experience, or reacting to it afterward. Its most successful post racked up 91.4 million views and is still growing.

@shotovercanyonswing ORIGINAL FULL VERSION 🤣 Let me tell you something! #viraltiktok #canyonswing #chair #letmetellyousomething #funnyvideos #funnytiktok ♬ original sound – Shotover Canyon Swing 🇳🇿

Online Travel Agents (OTAs)

Booking.com is a well-known OTA that is trying to capitalize on the most recent TikTok tourism trends. Its TikTok page is filled with videos that offer practical travel tips and life hacks as well as relatable content that helps its followers connect with the experience of travel. Its most successful post earned more than 7.4 million views – a figure that is continuously increasing.

@bookingcom 2023 is the year of… LEAVING ✈️ YOUR 🎒COMFORT ZONE 🌎 with our Trending Destinations 2023. Stay tuned for more. ♬ son original – justanunknownstar

Tourism boards

Tourism Australia is a destination tourism organization that aims to promote the travel industry on the continent. Its TikTok page relies on short videos that feature breathtaking, authentic experiences that can be enjoyed by travelers in the country. Its most successful post resulted in 4.2 million views and growing.

@australia Roo-minating with Brolga 🦘 📍: The Kangaroo Sanctuary, @ntaustralia #seeaustralia #australia #travelaustralia #northernterritory #outbackaustralia #kangaroo ♬ original sound – Australia

How travelers approach tourism experiences in the age of TikTok

It’s obvious that TikTok is one of the most engaging social media platforms available today, so it’s not surprising that users are being influenced and inspired to travel based on the content they consume on the app. In fact, according to Hotelmize, 80% of TikTok users were inspired to travel after watching content from their favorite accounts. TikTok users are constantly sharing unique tips, relatable advice, and hidden secrets about their favorite destinations, and TikTok followers want to be a part of that. 

Generally, TikTok users are younger. Social Shepherd notes that Gen Z and millennials make up more than 60% of all TikTok users — and this is the target demographic for many tour and activity companies around the world. Gen Z travelers are particularly trusting of information that they find on TikTok and other social media apps, so they are likely to be motivated based on what they see online. On the other hand , millennials are willing to spend money when it comes to splurging on creating new travel experiences. They love to invest in luxurious experiences, often opting out of practical, item-based purchases in lieu of experiential purchases.

And now with Gen Z and Millenials becoming the biggest-spending age bracket when it comes to travel and tourism, it’s important that tour and activity operators begin to cater to their interests,

How tour operators can leverage TikTok travel trends to boost bookings

Now is the best time to start adapting your business protocols and marketing strategies at your tour and activity company. You can take advantage of TikTok travel when you:

Play into TikTok trends

TikTok trends are fast but fierce. Monitor the up-and-coming trends closely, and hop on board as soon as you notice something going viral. Use hashtags, trending sounds, and music to make your videos as appealing as possible — this app curates content for individual users based on their preferences. You can increase your exposure on TikTok by collaborating with other popular accounts on the platform.

Offer exclusive, behind-the-scenes content

Look at your tour and activity offerings from a different perspective, and take a creative approach to your TikTok videos. TikTok users crave exclusive content and behind-the-scenes looks, so make that type of content your priority when you are planning out your next video.

Shot Over Canyon Swing is the perfect example of a tour and activity operator that features behind-the-scenes content.

Partner with TikTok travel influencers

Travel influencers often have a large and loyal following — and the people who follow their accounts put a significant amount of trust in them. When you partner with some trending TikTok travel influencers, you can increase the exposure of your brand and begin developing a following of your own. 

Create “Did you know?” informational videos

TikTok users love getting interesting facts and tidbits as they scroll through their feeds. Uncover the most exciting and engaging factoids about your experience, your destination, and your community at large, and promote those via TikTok to attract followers.

Direct TikTok users to your website

Once you have their attention, keep them engaged with your brand by directing TikTok users to your website. You can link to your website from your main page, as well as during relevant videos to entice people to book now.

Manage your TikTok bookings with a seamless online booking system

You’ll soon begin noticing that many of your bookings are coming from TikTok users who are inspired by your content — so you will want to be ready with the best available technology. The Rezdy online booking system is the first of its kind to be developed specifically for the tour and activity sector. Through Rezdy, you will be able to offer real-time availability, process secure online payments, and send automatic confirmations to your travelers.

Curious to discover the 9 strategies you can implement to increase direct bookings on top of utilizing TikTok? Check out our video below:

Don’t be left behind in the TikTok travel era. Start your FREE 21-day trial or book a demo with our team to understand how our software can fit within your business.

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All You Need to Know about TikTok Travel Marketing

What is TikTok travel marketing?

What are the benefits compared to other channels, what travel segments can be targeted through tiktok, tiktok travel marketing stats, is there an opportunity, how can companies leverage tiktok travel marketing, real-life examples of tiktok travel marketing.

Companies in the tourism industry have been using various platforms in their social media marketing mix . TikTok is a next-gen social media platform that has taken the world by storm. It’s everywhere! You can even see TikTok videos on Facebook Reels and Instagram Reels and Stories. 

If you are in the sector, you are probably wondering whether TikTok travel marketing is worth your time and money.

You should not base your decision on a hunch or personal experience with social media marketing. Instead, you need relevant information to make an informed decision. Here is our take on TikTok travel marketing, including what it is, the benefits it offers, how to use it, and more.

TikTok (pronounced Tic Toc ) is the youngest addition to popular social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It offers users numerous ways to create and share content, engage with other users, and share their thoughts and opinions via the comment section. 

The platform started small, but it quickly became popular worldwide. It appears that short videos resonate pretty well with social media users. At the moment, it supports uploading videos that are anywhere between 15 seconds and 3 minutes long. 

The definition of TikTok travel marketing is pretty much similar to the social media marketing definition. It goes along the following lines:

“TikTok travel marketing refers to the use of TikTok to increase travel company’s reach, build the brand, increase website traffic, increase destination awareness, engage travelers, and boost bookings.”

In other words, TikTok travel marketing is a type of tourism marketing that refers to any marketing strategy deployed by a company in the tourism sector on TikTok. It can help you promote tourism in several ways. 

You can create and share videos (popularly called Tik Toks) and give them time to generate organic views, likes, and favorites. Alternatively, you can leverage popular hashtags, trends, and paid TikTok marketing to take shortcuts and reach your target audience faster.

Now that you know what TikTok travel marketing is, let’s see what benefits it offers compared to other channels.

You’ve probably seen travel brands of all sizes using social media to build communities and brands, engage travelers, and increase bookings. The platforms they most commonly use are Instagram and Facebook, or both. The chances are that you did your fair share of social media marketing as well. 

Why add TikTok to your social media marketing mix? Is it worth it? The best way to answer these questions is to explore what benefits TikTok offers compared to other channels.

TikTok is a very popular social media platform. It has over one billion users at the moment. However, Facebook has almost 3 billion users, followed by Instagram, which has 1.4 billion users. How is TikTok a better option for travel marketing, then? It all boils down to user activity.

The platform has exceptional user activity. By the end of 2021, it had 1.2 billion monthly active users. The projections tell us that the number of monthly active users on TikTok will increase by 50% to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2022 . 

So far, the app has been downloaded over 3 billion times from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. That’s still less than Facebook and Instagram. What’s the catch, then?

The catch is in how many hours on average social media users spend on social media every month. In this category, TikTok is the undisputed champion, with 25.7 hours monthly spent by its users . On average, Facebook and Instagram users spend 16 and 7.9 hours per month, respectively. 

Amazing reach potential

The total number of users and monthly active users stats are not as valuable for travel marketers as the reach potential. You need to know more about the app’s usage to understand its advertising potential. TikTok has a great reach potential, and it’s right there competing against the biggest brands, including Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

TikTok has a reach potential of 10% , which places it right beside Instagram and Facebook regarding ad efficiency. In some age groups, it even outperforms its competitors. We will return to it in the “What travel segments can be targeted through TikTok” section.

Many relevant influencers

Travel brands are familiar with leveraging social media influencers to advertise their travel products, destinations, and activities. TikTok has to offer many relevant influencers to travel companies. There is one big thing that differentiates influencers on this platform when compared to others.

TikTok users are very active and hungry for engaging and authentic content. Influencers on this platform have a huge following and create and publish videos daily, sometimes even a few times a day. You can choose from numerous travel-related influencers and get incredible exposure. 

Organic reach on a budget

Many smaller travel brands don’t engage in social media marketing because it often requires a substantial budget. At least, it’s the case with Instagram and Facebook. TikTok unlocks valuable marketing opportunities you can pursue even with a limited budget. 

You can achieve organic reach without a big marketing budget which is often not the case with Facebook and Instagram. That’s because TikTok has an algorithm that promotes the content of new users and continues to place it on people’s feeds based on the number of likes and comments.

Thanks to this recommendation algorithm , you can reach your target audience without spending too much.

Access to a business account

Another perk that TikTok offers and other social media platforms don’t is a business account. Instead of publishing content via a standard or creator account, you can create a business account and get instant access to several additional features that can help you streamline your marketing activities.

Some useful features that come with a business account are performance and audience data reports, the ability to add important links in your profile description, an in-app business content guide, analytics, success stories, and creative advice.

Before choosing the right platform for social media advertising, you need to ensure you can reach your ideal target audience. Compared to other social media networks that attract quite diverse demographics in terms of age, TikTok users are usually younger.  

The latest report indicates that more than 50% of TikTok users are 34 years old or younger, which is why the fact that this social media platform performs exceptionally well within the 14–29 target group doesn’t come as a surprise. 

While TikTok enables you to target different demographic segments based on age, it offers the most value to travel companies interested in targeting Generation Z and young millennials . These two segments account for over 40% of the total population and travel more than other generations.

So far, you’ve learned the benefits of TikTok travel marketing and which segments you can target through this platform. Now, let’s see whether TikTok offers real opportunities to travel companies. 

We’ve established that more than half of TikTok users are Gen Z and young millennials . These generations are tech-savvy and rely on online information when making travel decisions. More precisely, research has found that social media is a go-to resource for almost 60% of Gen Z’ers with summer travel plans. They use social media to look for additional information to plan their trips better.

The same research found that approximately 50% of Gen Z’ers and millennials follow at least one travel influencer on social media . Over 80% of travelers responded that they use travel influencers for recommendations. 

Furthermore, it appears that TikTok users use the platform for travel inspiration. One recent study discovered that almost 80% of people on the platform were inspired to choose to go to a destination or purchase a travel product because they saw travel-related content on TikTok . 50% of them ended up booking a trip. 

Everyone in the travel sector, including travel agents, OTAs, hotels, and transportation companies, can use TikTok to promote tourism and destinations to tourists. TikTok enables you to do so in many different ways. Let’s see how you can leverage TikTok travel marketing.

Hashtags and trends are really popular among TikTok users. Travel companies can leverage them to appear on the feeds of thousands of users. They can create trend-related videos and find creative ways to promote travel products or destinations.

Behind-the-scenes

Behind-the-scenes is a popular type of content in social media marketing campaigns. You can use it to invite your viewers to discover details about some products. For instance, you can showcase the hotel rooms, feature a chef preparing a delicious meal, or highlight some sought-after amenities.

Exclusive sneak peeks

TikTok users crave exclusive content – something they wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. You can get their attention and have potentially viral content if you share with them something unique . You can be creative by showcasing luxury rooms, 1st class travel, bonus amenities, and hidden gems a location can offer. 

Travel influencers

We’ve already mentioned that TikTok doesn’t lack travel influencers. You can work with one to promote your products, and there are plenty to choose from. You won’t have trouble finding an influencer that aligns with your values and has a following that matches your target audience. 

“Did you know” informational videos

Informational videos are very popular on TikTok, especially if they showcase exciting facts and stats. Fortunately, there are a lot of facts and stats you can discover about destinations worldwide. Include them in high-quality videos, and you will potentially generate many views and followers.

Day-in-the-life

Personal videos are also popular on TikTok. Don’t forget that most TikTok users are young and young people are interested in discovering details about different professions. For instance, you can make daily vlogs as a travel agent. You can make it funny or stay professional – in either case, you will generate some views.

Paid marketing

The platform also has support for paid TikTok travel marketing. You must create a business account and set up your paid marketing campaign. There are a lot of settings, including targeting options, that can help you reach your ideal target audience with your ads. 

The best way to understand TikTok travel marketing is to see it in action. Here are some of the most noteworthy examples of travel marketing done right on this platform.

Attractive daily trip itinerary by the Palm Beaches

You can learn a lot about destinations and their TikTok accounts from the Palm Beaches. This destination is among the destinations with the highest following on TikTok. They regularly publish new videos highlighting cool things tourists can do at the location. 

Here is an excellent example of how to showcase a day trip itinerary in a fun and engaging way . 

EF Tours’ trendy posts

Here is another example of TikTok travel marketing done right. EF Tours specializes in offering travel packages to students who are interested in studying abroad. Their entire account is devoted to the young generation who are interested in meeting new people while travelling. 

EF Tours follows the latest trends to attract its target audience, like using catchy music and attractive video editing .

Marriott has its own song and hashtags

Even some of the biggest brands in the tourism and hospitality sector use TikTok. Marriott’s “ Travel Makes Us ” campaign is a perfect example. The company has included its own song and created unique hashtags. 

It encourages travelers to record and share their travel experiences using the song and hashtag. It took just under 40 hours for the Marriot campaign to generate almost 20 million views and drive engagement rates .

Hot Wire Travel’s powerful synergy of competition and influencers

Hotwire is a famous travel brand that has a massive following on TikTok. It’s interesting to discover how the brand excelled in TikTok travel marketing. They used the oldest trick in the book – the brand allowed TikTok users to participate in a competition.  

They partnered with influencers and asked them to publish their own reasons for planning a post-pandemic getaway. The campaign generated over 1 billion views .

Delta Air Line’s recipe for quick exposure

Delta Air Line started with a small following on TikTok. To generate more followers and improve the brand’s reach, the company asked users to share their favorite travel experiences. In just 36 hours, the TikTok travel marketing campaign “ FavoriteTripChallenge ” generated almost 20 million views.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms, with the highest number of hours users spend on average every month. It attracts a younger population, including Gen Z and younger millennials. If this is your target group, you should explore TikTok travel marketing as a viable marketing strategy. 

The best thing about it is that you have plenty of ways to pursue it. You can launch a paid ads campaign, work with an influencer(s), or create valuable and unique videos to engage and attract travelers. 

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Marc Truyols has a degree in Tourism from the University of the Balearic Islands. Marc has extensive experience in the leisure, travel and tourism industry. His skills in negotiation, hotel management, customer service, sales and hotel management make him a strong business development professional in the travel industry.

Mize is the leading hotel booking optimization solution in the world. With over 170 partners using our fintech products, Mize creates new extra profit for the hotel booking industry using its fully automated proprietary technology and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue across its suite of products for its partners. Mize was founded in 2016 with its headquarters in Tel Aviv and offices worldwide.

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Table of Contents

If you're not sure you should create a TikTok social media marketing strategy , we're here to prove to you that you absolutely should.

TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform we’ve seen thus far, reaching 1 billion users in September 2021, a record four years since its worldwide launch. For comparison, it took eight years for both Facebook and Instagram to hit that milestone.

And while we don't have more recent data on TikTok's userbase numbers, there are other stats proving just how popular TikTok has become. For example, it was the most-downloaded app in Q1 of 2022 and the highest-grossing non-game app in both the Apple and Google Play stores. Find even more compelling TikTok stats in our 2023 roundup.

Throughout this article, we’re going to dig into what TikTok marketing is, how to create your own TikTok business account, provide six tips for ramping up your brand’s TikTok marketing strategy and more.

Table of contents

What is TikTok marketing?

How to create a tiktok business account.

• 10 Tips for building your TikTok marketing strategy

What are the benefits of marketing on TikTok?

Tiktok marketing brand examples to inspire your strategy.

TikTok marketing is the process of using TikTok and TikTok content to promote your brand and its products or services. Easily build up your own online presence through the use of short-form video content that engages your audience and helps show off your business offerings.

While social media marketing creates a cohesive strategy for all  social media platforms —TikTok marketing focuses just on TikTok.

You’ll want to ensure your overall messaging on TikTok is similar to all other platforms your brand has a presence on, but as a rule, TikTok content tends to be much different than the content you’ll publish on other channels. (Though you may end up repurposing your TikTok videos for Instagram Reels and  YouTube Shorts to reach even more viewers.)

Before you create a TikTok business account you first need to know the difference between a  TikTok business vs. creator account .

Here are a few of the main differences:

• Business accounts get access to business tools like ads and analytics
• Business accounts get limited access to sound clips
• Business accounts get the ability to create an  ecommerce storefront
• Business accounts can use third-party tools to schedule and manage TikTok content
• Business accounts can add a website link to their profile

TikTok business accounts don’t have access to the full sound library, but the additional tools far outweigh that. To create your TikTok business account follow along with these quick steps:

Step 1.  Download the  TikTok app  and create a new account

Step 2.  Go to your TikTok profile and tap the hamburger menu in the top right corner

Step 3.  Tap  Settings and privacy

Step 4.  Tap  Manage account

Step 5.  Tap  Switch to Business Account

Step 6.  Choose the category that best corresponds with your business type

And voila! You now have a business profile and can get started optimizing your account to appeal to your  target audience .

10 tips for building your TikTok marketing strategy

Ready to dive in and learn more about how to create a TikTok marketing strategy and build a large following on the platform? While you likely won’t be “TikTok famous” overnight, these ten tips will help you get on the best path to success. We’ve also summarized our best Tiktok marketing tips in this video.

1. Create and brand your TikTok account

We’ve walked through how to create your  TikTok business account . The next step is to fully optimize and brand it so that it’s recognizable alongside the rest of your social media profiles.

To brand your TikTok account, tap  Edit Profile , then fill out the following:

• Profile photo or video:  TikTok lets you add a video for your profile avatar. Make sure this is a high-res version of your logo if you choose to add profile photo. If you want to do video, consider creating an animated version of your logo.
• Name:  Your business name.
• Username:  This should also be your business name (if possible) with no spaces.
• Pronouns:  If you’re a sole proprietor you might want to input your pronouns.
• Bio:  You have 80 characters to give a quick synopsis of what your business does.
• Email:  Input your company’s contact email.
• Nonprofit:  If your business works with or supports a nonprofit, you can tag them right in your profile.
• Category:  You may have already done this when creating your business account, but if not, select the category that best represents your industry.
• Social:  Connect your Instagram and/or YouTube accounts.

Other options are setting up an auto-message when users DM you. You can do this by tapping the hamburger menu, then  Business suite , then  Auto message . You’ll also be able to add your website URL to your profile once you  hit your first 1,000 followers .

Here’s an example of a fully fleshed-out business profile from Starbucks. They even have two videos pinned to the top of their profile to showcase new products.

2. Define your TikTok audience

To be successful on TikTok, you have to know who you want to target with your content. Otherwise, you might get great reach and engagement , but it won’t translate into sales or subscriptions—which is fun but means nothing for your business’s bottom line.

TikTok skews towards a much younger audience, with nearly 7 in 10 18-19-year-olds having a presence on the app and around half of all 20-39-year-olds using TikTok.

So while TikTok is definitely for younger audiences, you still need to dig a bit deeper than that. Think about the demographics you want to target. Conduct some of your own social media market research , then consider putting together a  customer persona that showcases exactly who your business’s target audience is.

3. Create quality TikTok videos

Your next step is to learn  how to make a good TikTok video . First, start by doing a bit of hands-on research. Unless you’re already an avid TikTok watcher, spend some time getting to know the platform and looking at the types of videos that pop up on your “For You” page.

You might also want to look at the  TikTok Discover page  to  see what’s trending  and discover some of the more popular TikTokers.

Here, you’ll be able to see trending hashtags,  sound bytes , accounts and more. It’s a great way to get a bird’s-eye-view of what’s popular at the moment, helping you discover inspiration for your own TikTok content. Then, take a look at other  brands that are killing it on TikTok  to see what they’re doing well and how you can emulate some of those tactics for your videos.

When it comes to TikTok, you need to test a variety of different video types to discover what’s going to resonate with your audience. Diversity across your profile is key. Try filming your team creating the product. Showcase your product in action. Create funny videos using popular sound bytes. Here are some additional  video ideas  to help get you started.

And make sure you post consistently. If you want to make a splash, you need to pump out new content regularly. Start by publishing at least twice a week, more often if you can. (In fact, TikTok themselves recommend  posting 1-4 times per day .)

4. Use ads in your TikTok marketing strategy

If you want to reach an even wider audience, allocate some of your social media advertising budget towards  TikTok ads . The cost for these is based on bids, just like how you pay for Facebook and Instagram ads. You’ll choose your target audience, create a fun video ad then promote it based on your specified daily or lifetime budget.

5. Tap into TikTok influencer marketing

Another popular TikTok marketing tactic is to  work with influencers . There are thousands of influencers and content creators that partner with brands on TikTok to create fun, engaging video content that both spreads the word about new brands and also provides said brand with user-generated content to share on their own social media channels.

A few TikTok influencer marketing tactics include:

• Sending your product to influencers.  Brands with low budgets but tons of product can reach out to influencers and ask if they can send them free product. While this doesn’t guarantee a feature on their channel, if you reach out to enough influencers consistently, you might get a spotlight in an unboxing or merch video.
• Collaborate on a video.  Collaboration on a video or series of videos that spotlight your brand exclusively. These are more expensive, but you can always partner with micro-influencers with a lower reach until you have more of an influencer marketing budget.
• Partner on a new product line.  Partner with a mega influencer or celebrity and create a product line together that they’ll get a cut of and promote to their audience. This is a great win-win, but you’ll want to make sure you’re only working with influencers that are hyper-relevant to your niche. For example, beauty brands would only want to partner on a project like this with a highly well-known makeup artist.

It is best to be strategic about who you partner with based on the location and demographics of the audience you want to attract. For instance, UK TikTok influencers differ from their counterparts in the US.

6. Monitor TikTok analytics to track performance

Pay attention to your TikTok analytics . You only get access to this if you switch to a business account, and it can be a huge help in pinpointing your most popular videos and when the best time to post each day is.

Some of the best metrics to track include:

• Video views
• Growth rate
• Trending videos
• Average watch time

You can also connect your TikTok business account to your Sprout Social dashboard to access analytics right inside Sprout as you measure your other social media platforms.

7. Jump on popular TikTok trends

If you want to increase your chances of going viral, pay attention to trending audio clips, challenges and video types. If you can use a popular trend to create a video that's relevant to your business, do so!

Here's an example of a small jeweler that used a popular trending video type to go viral.

Most of their videos of original content generate anywhere from 100-600 views and 2-20 likes. But the above video took a well-known trend and generated over 275,000 views and over 12,000 likes.

As we mentioned, you can use TikTok's Discover page to find some of these trends; however, your best bet is simply to consume a lot of TikTok content. This will help you organically find popular trends—and see how various users are incorporating them into their content. (So the next time your boss finds you scrolling, you can tell him it's work-related.)

8. Take advantage of TikTok's editing capabilities

The best videos tend to be the ones that are shot and edited right within the TikTok app itself. This is because the app has a ton of editing features built-in, making it easy to create engaging content with just a smartphone and a single app.

Some of these features include:

• Trimming video clips
• Text overlays
• Visual and special effects
• Audio editing
• Slow motion
• Transitions

There are so many different ways to film and edit your TikTok videos right inside the app that there's no need for additional video editing tools. Especially since the TikTok algorithm seems to prefer pushing TikTok-edited videos more than others.

9. Keep your videos short and sweet

According to the most recent data, TikTok states that the optimal length for videos is 21-34 seconds long (up from 11-17 seconds in 2020).

Although TikTok is still testing longer videos, videos over 60 seconds in length stress viewers out. This means you want to keep your video content short and sweet. Stick to an average of 30-second video content for optimal results.

10. Incorporate live video into your strategy

TikTok is one of the many platforms that offer a live-streaming feature on its app. Brands should take advantage of this as live videos pop up in viewers' For You pages so interested users can tune in. Plus, TikTok allows viewers to send stickers and other accolades through live videos as a monetization perk, so your brand can add TikTok Live as an additional revenue stream if your videos get popular enough.

So why bother adding an additional social media platform to your overall strategy—especially one as time-consuming as TikTok? Let's cover three of the major benefits of marketing on TikTok.

People are using TikTok to find products

49% of TikTok users have said they've purchased a product or service from a brand after seeing it featured on TikTok. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has also been extremely popular, with users showing off products they bought fully due to the fact that they discovered it on TikTok.

If you're wanting to increase sales through your social media marketing, TikTok is a great channel to do so. The platform is on track to gain 9.6 million social buyers this year, making it the third most popular social commerce channel.

You have a higher chance of going viral

Due to TikTok's algorithm, the brand focuses more on content discovery rather than showing you content from your friends. There's a separate feed to see content from those you already follow—but the For You page wants to help users discover new content.

This means TikTok provides brands with a unique opportunity to reach a wider audience than you can on other platforms. Get discovered by those interested in your content, generate more followers and increase chances of making a sale.

Influencer marketing opportunities are abundant

Influencer marketing is huge on TikTok, making it even easier for your brand to get discovered by new people in your target audience. There are creators galore on the platform, many in your industry, so finding the right influencers to work with is a breeze.

Plus, even micro-influencers can generate a lot of reach due to the flexibility of the algorithm, so you can get more bang for your influencer budget, reaching even more customers and building solid influencer relationships.

Get inspired by real-world examples of how brands have seen success on the platform. Let's dig into a couple of TikTok marketing examples you can learn from.

Fan favorite southwestern fast-food chain Chipotle has made quite a stir on TikTok. They got a bit of help from TikTok food influencers reviewing some of their menu "hacks," but Chipotle's response to the hubbub is what wins them a spot here.

If you see people talking about your business and menu items, products or services at length, respond accordingly—and that's exactly what Chipotle did.

It all started when TikTokers Alexis Frost and Keith Lee reviewed an off-menu meal—and gave it full stars. Chipotle customers flocked to their local stores to try the meal, causing some locations to fully sell out of certain parts of the order.

In response, Chipotle ended up adding the actual meal to their menu .

The brand has also continued to work with Alexis and Keith, with the two almost becoming TikTok spokespeople for the brand. Take advantage of viral moments when you can, and create long-term partnerships with your advocates.

Washington Post

The Washington Post, as a well-known newspaper across the U.S., has an arsenal of rather dry content to share. However, the paper's TikTok team has turned their account into a fun and engaging way for followers to keep up with the news.

Take this TikTok video about France raising the retirement age .

Or this video explaining the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank .

These bite-sized videos explain complex and dry topics in a fun and engaging way—it's no wonder they've grown the account to 1.6M followers.

Even if your business is in a drier, less engaging industry doesn't mean you can't make engaging TikTok content. Take a lesson from WaPo for your own strategy.

Duolingo's owl mascot is famous on the app. While its long had a reputation of being an evil, persistent presence for Duolingo language learners, the marketing team really leaned into that for its TikTok content. Their content features the owl mascot in nearly every video—and it's chaotic.

Here's one video showcasing the owl's various threats to get its users to do their daily lesson.

Here's an example of what some of their other content is like, taking advantage of trending sound clips and popular video types.

If your business gets a fun reputation, lean into it in your marketing content. Have fun with it and don't take yourselves too seriously.

Get started with TikTok marketing today

Build up your TikTok presence using these six tactics. Start by creating your own TikTok business account, then create your own fun, engaging short-form video content. Learn even more about creating your own successful  TikTok marketing campaigns  so you can grow your audience and build your business.

Frequently Asked TikTok Marketing Questions

TikTok is an app to create, share and watch short-form videos. Users have their home “For You” feed where they can swipe up to watch video after video. The app comes with its own editing features, filters and sound clips to utilize when creating your own video content. Overall, TikTok is a great one-stop shop for creating and consuming quick 10 to 60-second videos.

TikTok is a unique marketing channel, creating viral potential that has never been there before. Use TikTok to show off product tutorials and use cases, join challenges, jump on trends, make your audience laugh and more. You can sell products through TikTok, generate leads and increase brand awareness.

TikTok offers a number of business tools—video editing, analytics, ads and more. You can also connect your TikTok business account to your Sprout Social dashboard to access even more tools, like scheduling and engagement.

TikTok has made marketing and marketing videos much more accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes. Fancy camera equipment isn’t required—and in fact, it isn’t even preferred—to create engaging and viral video content .

TikTok influencers are extremely effective—they see a 15.86% engagement rate on the platform, more than triple the next highest platform’s engagement rate .

Additional resources for TikTok Marketing

• Social Media Engagement
• Social Media Strategy

17 ways to get more followers on TikTok in 2024

How the TikTok algorithm works in 2024

• Future of Marketing
• Higher Education

3 Institutions leading a masterclass on TikTok for higher education

• Social Media Advertising

TikTok Promotion: Boost your visibility in 2024

• Social Media Trends

TikTok from Creator Fund to Creativity Program: what to expect

• Social Media Content

How to make money on TikTok: 15 strategies to use in 2024

• Social Commerce

How to integrate TikTok Shop into your social strategy

How to get more views on TikTok: 12 tactics to try

TikTok for “Serious” Industries & Brands

How to Unlock the Power of TikTok for Your Business

8 TikTok trends to fuel your social video content in 2023

How to Effectively Market to Gen Z with TikTok

• Community Management

How Glossier Contours Their 2023 Social Strategy Around TikTok, Community & More

5 best TikTok marketing agencies in 2023

Small businesses on TikTok: The strategy guide for your brand

TikTok as a Service [Webinar]

14 TikTok tools to amplify your social video strategy

How to Transform B2B Marketing with Personality and Emotion – With LinkedIn [Webinar]

• Branding & Creative

How to Explain the Business Value of TikTok to Your Boss [Webinar]

TikTok Business vs. Creator account: What’s the difference?

How to use TikTok for B2B marketing (and 3 brands doing it right)

• Culture Strategies

Bari’s TikTok Bootcamp [Webinar]

9 tips for designing TikTok marketing campaigns (and examples to show them in action)

6 brands on TikTok to invigorate your strategy

How to use TikTok for business effectively and grow your audience

Deconstructing Duolingo’s secrets to success on TikTok

Build and grow stronger relationships on social

Sprout Social helps you understand and reach your audience, engage your community and measure performance with the only all-in-one social media management platform built for connection.

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Your Guide to Influencer Marketing in Travel and Tourism

Unlock the power of influencer marketing for your business. Learn the most effective travel marketing strategies to engage with modern audiences, and get the best exposure for your tour, activity, or attraction

by Samantha Hardcastle | 7 September 2023

Before social media, our sphere of influence was relatively small, extending to close friends and family. But today, one person can have influence over hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. As a result, influencer marketing in travel and tourism continues to be a hot topic for tour, activity, experience, and attraction operators looking to leverage this incredibly lucrative form of word-of-mouth. 

We’ve had several experts speak on advocate marketing at past Arival events, but despite the known importance of influencer marketing, it can be a difficult realm for operators to navigate. Each influencer plays by their own rules, making it a sort of wild west for those used to structured marketing and advertising efforts. 

We can learn a lot about travel influencers through their relationships with Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and tourism boards, which Skift reveals has been a mixed bag. While some agencies have started to re-allocate their marketing spend from advertisements to influencers, the ability to effectively measure the ROI is still unclear. But that doesn’t mean it’s not working. 

Here are some of our best tips for travel brands looking to get in front of media users with tourism influence marketing. 

The Rise of the Travel Influencer

Why are influencers important for experience operators and other travel brands? Consumers are drawn to influencers for both their beautiful aesthetic approach and their engaging ways of revealing off-the-beaten-path destinations and experiences. Almost 11% of adults worldwide say they follow travel influencers  when planning trips and about 53% of social media users say they have purchased something after seeing an influencer post about it on social media, according to a  2022 Pew Research survey . 

Gen Z and Millennials Search for Information on Social Media

The importance of influencer marketing is particularly salient in younger traveler demographics. TikTok and Instagram are hotbeds of discovery for Millennial and Gen Z travelers, shaping the way young consumers discover destinations and plan their trips. These authenticity-valuing generations like to hear it from their peers who have actually experienced it firsthand, and have little patience for travel marketers and their advertisements basically saying “look at how great we are.”

According to Phocuswire , on TikTok the “travel” hashtag boasts more than 182 billion views, whereas on Instagram, 695 million posts bear the same tag. They also reveal that Google has found 40% of media users aged 18-24 are looking to TikTok or Instagram first for inspiration.

TikTok continues to grow in usage for travelers ages 10-29, who make up over half of their user base. Millennials still lag behind, with just 16.4%, but that number has grown over the last year. These younger consumers look to tourism influencers on TikTok to find unique experiences in destinations that their friends and family may not have thought of. 

The Power of Influencers in Travel and Tourism

Travel brands that take their influence marketing initiatives seriously are more likely to reap the benefits from it. Like any growth initiative, you want to be strategic and come up with a creative approach that gets consumer’s attention. Keep an eye on what the big travel brands are doing for travel influencer marketing collaborations and ask yourself: what worked, what didn’t work, and what can we take away from this for our own approach? 

The great thing about this type of endorsement content is that it can be evergreen in nature. A post from several years ago can still get good visibility today. So, when you’re thinking about influencer marketing, don’t rule out the long-term impacts for your business. This is especially true for YouTube videos and blog articles. 

In fact, sitting down with the influencer you’re working with or your team and brainstorming ways to extend the life of their traveling and tourism content is a wise move to make. Embedding influencer content to your website can also help maximize the visibility, as an influencer endorsement can often have more weight than advertisements and standard Tripadvisor or Google reviews.  

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Loki the Wolfdog (@loki)

Pet travel influencer (yes you read that right) Loki the Wolfdog has 1.8 million Instagram followers that would probably love to follow him onto your boat tour.

Choosing the Right Ambassadors for Your Brand

Scoping out the influencer scene in your destinations is often the first step. If you type your destinations into Instagram or TikTok search, what are some of the first photos or videos to come up? Who’s talking about the experiences in your region? Go even one step further and see which travel influencers have tagged your DMO, tourism board, and competing activities or tours, and then check out their accounts. 

Another way to meet travel influencers is to attend conferences that they attend. TBEX for content creators and Women’s Travel Fest are two great events to meet potential partners in the travel influencer space. Depending on what sort of experience you offer, finding a specialized gathering can put you in front of the right people. If you’re in the adventure travel space, you might find the right tourism influencer at an Adventure Travel Trade Association event. And Arival Events of course are a great place to connect with others in the experiences sector of travel, exchange ideas and build connections.

These organizations often have Facebook groups as well that you can connect with influencers in. In addition, a quick search of “travel influencers” on Facebook reveals there are dozens of active groups where travel influencers hang out, which can also be a great place to start.  

Finally, there are many third-party tools that can help you find and connect with tourism influencers, which can also be a great place to start. For example, companies like Cray , NaviSavi and Jerne are developing platforms to connect experience operators and content creators, or what Cray co-founder Raquella Raiz calls “ The OTA For Gen-Z .” Here is a roundup of 22 free influencer marketing tools to explore.  

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Collaborating with Influencers: Best Practices

Before you launch into full-scale tourism influencer marketing campaigns, it’s helpful to understand a few best practices so you get started on the right foundation. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Identify travel influencers to partner with

When exploring the world of tourism influencers and making a list of potential partners, you’ll want to make sure you identify the right people (or pets) you want to be working with. Here are a few things to pay attention to: 

• Followers: how many followers do they have? Someone could have a million followers, but are they real ? Depending on the size of your business, you might want to consider micro-influencers, people with 10,000–100,000 followers. Why are micro influencers important? Micro influencers can be just as influential as travel influencers with a larger reach, and they might be a better match for your target market and have more affordable rates. 
• Reach & Engagement: are their posts getting genuine comments? Are people tagging their friends? If it’s a video, what’s the reach? These are important metrics you want to pay attention to in influencer marketing. Have they shared a ‘sponsored’ post recently? How did that perform? 

• Values & Fit: just because someone has great numbers, doesn’t mean they’re the right fit for you. If you operate a luxury experience, then find someone who is posting luxury content. If they’re posting about fast food but you’re operating a slow food tour, then it’s clearly not a good match for your audience’s values and aesthetic. 

Like most things in marketing, it pays to build a relationship with someone before jumping into business with them. Start by engaging and commenting on the posts of travel influencers that you’ve identified as potential partners. Sometimes this simple act of engagement can result in them coming to you first, which can help with negotiating favorable terms. 

2. Explore creative ways to work together

If you have a good feeling about a travel influencer, then reach out and see if they have a media kit. If they are going to be charging you a fee, then this is essential. You’ll want to know their monthly reach, how many shares/saves a typical post gets, and what past collaborations have looked like in terms of return on investment.

Yes, some travel influencers are going to want to be financially compensated for their initiatives. But you may be able to find tourism influencers that are willing to work for an exchange, such as a free experience in exchange for a post to their audience. 

You may also want to consider that working with an influencer in a more comprehensive manner can be very beneficial. For example, many travel influencers are terrific photographers and creatives. Instead of just doing a simple tour exchange, you may want to explore what it would look like for the influencer to do a comprehensive photoshoot where you would get 20 photos to use on your social media. Not only do you get the exposure to their audience, now you have a lot of great content to work with for the next few months. 

When you find a travel influencer you want to work with, ask them what other sort of creative ways you can get the word out about your experience, tour, activity or attraction. You never know what other sort of fun tourism marketing ideas they might have up their sleeves!

3. Host a special influencer experience

Fam (familiarization) trips have long been used in the travel space to bring together travel agents and media into destinations to help them sell it. Why not do something similar for travel influencers? 

If you can bring a handful of influencers together at once, you’ll be able to create a lot of buzz in a short period of time. This is a particularly great idea to employ prior to the beginning of your busy season, or the launch of a new tour or experience, so that you can have a lot of word-of-mouth circulating when you need it most. 

Risks and Challenges in Influencer Marketing

As with any sort of marketing initiative, there are a number of horror stories about influencer relationships gone wrong. A lot of failed influencer marketing attempts stem from a lack of communications around expectations. 

Make sure you lay out all your expectations up front, preferably in a legal agreement. Be clear on the number of times the influencer is going to mention you, how they’re going to tag and link to your business, and what sort of report you will receive after an agreed upon timeframe. 

As influencers have their own voice and own goals, it’s important to also share your brand guidelines and discuss how you can find a way to meet somewhere in the middle. If you choose an influencer that shares your values, that shouldn’t be a difficult thing to accomplish. But sometimes personality clash can result in content and endorsements that feel forced or off-brand, and then you’ve essentially wasted your money. So don’t skip the important steps outlined above! 

Looking Ahead: The Future of Influencer Marketing in Travel and Tourism

While tourism influencers have been blamed for ruining travel by creating unrealistic romanticized content and contributing to overtourism, influencer marketing in travel and tourism shows no signs of slowing down. The key is to find partners that care about your destination and traveler’s impact. As travelers become more conscious, “snake oil” influencers will lose popularity. Authenticity and genuine concern will become key for selecting influencers that bring in the kind of travelers all operators love to host.  

In the future as new social media platforms gain popularity, we will see a growing need for niche travel influencers, like past Arival MC Ravi Round The World , who specializes in highlighting LGBTQ-friendly destinations. Can you think of a niche of travel consumers you’d like to get in front of?  

@raviroundtheworld GOAT YOGA 🐐 🧘🏻‍♂️ I’m obsessed with goats and found the best spot to do goat yoga in Asheville, North Carolina. Round Mountain Creamery slays the goat game with @ashevillewellnesstours Would you do GOAT YOGA?! #exploreasheville #ashevillenc #goat #goatyoga #goatlife #goatlove @visitasheville ♬ original sound – Ravi Roth

[CAPTION: Travel influencer Ravi Roth worked with Asheville Wellness Tours to create this TikTok video promoting their goat yoga experience ]

Most importantly, remember that everyone has influence to some degree or another. You never know how influential the people who have already gone through your experience are. You might have an influencer in your experience right this moment! Even if they only have a few hundred followers on social media, someone with a small yet loyal following of 500 followers might be more influential than someone who has 500K followers that don’t know, like, or trust them. Don’t let vanity metrics get in the way of always treating every single person like they’re a celebrity. 

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Privacy Overview

• Tourism Management and Technology Economy
• Vol 6, Issue 7, 2023

Research on Jingdezhen Tiktok Tourism Marketing Based on PRAC Laws

DOI: 10.23977/tmte.2023.060705 | Downloads: 20 | Views: 359

Runhua Peng 1 , Jun Tao 1

Affiliation(s)

1 School of Economics and Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi, 541000, China

Corresponding Author

For the emerging tourism destination marketing tool of Tik tok, applying the PRAC laws, and taking Jingdezhen as an example, we analyse its marketing status quo on Tik tok short-video social platforms from four aspects, namely, platform management, relationship management, behavioral management, and crisis management. In view of the deficiencies, it is proposed to strengthen all-round integrated marketing, give full play to the advantages of Jingdezhen ceramics to strengthen event marketing, and make use of the celebrity effect to strengthen viral marketing and other strategies, with a view to assisting the Jingdezhen tourist destination in establishing a more scientific marketing system and realising the high-quality and sustainable development of regional tourism.

CITE THIS PAPER

Runhua Peng, Jun Tao, Research on Jingdezhen Tiktok Tourism Marketing Based on PRAC Laws. Tourism Management and Technology Economy (2023) Vol. 6: 33-38. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/tmte.2023.060705.

[1] Gao Jing, Xiao Jiangnan, Zhang Yonggang. A Review of Foreign Tourism Destination Marketing Research [J]. Journal of Tourism, 2006, (07): 91-96. [2] Dai Xiaoyu. Analysing the reference significance of tourism marketing of Jitterbug short video APP [J]. Communication Research, 2018, 2 (21): 117. [3] Li Linjing. Reflections on the Image Enhancement of "Netflix-style" Tourist Destinations--Taking Hongyadong Scenic Spot in Chongqing as an Example [J]. National Circulation Economy, 2019, (18): 134-135.  [4] Liu Yu. Research on Qingdao's urban tourism network marketing under the new coronary pneumonia epidemic [J]. Shanxi Agricultural Economy, 2021, (04): 96-97.  [5] Hu Ling, Long Zhe. Research on online marketing strategy of rural leisure tourism in Anren County, Hunan [J]. National Circulation Economy, 2022, (05): 141-143. [6] Guo Xueying. Microblog Marketing of Tourism Destinations in the Context of Social Media--Taking the Official Microblog of Huangshan Mountain Scenic Spot as an Example [J]. Journal of Cebu College, 2018, 33 (03): 14-19. [7] Yang Hui. Research on microblog marketing strategy based on PRAC principle [J]. Today's Media, 2013, 21 (03): 62-63.

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Travel on TikTok: Top Trends, Longer Videos and the Future of Booking Trips

Dawit Habtemariam , Skift

March 7th, 2024 at 10:56 AM EST

TikTok has become an influential force in travel discovery. Selling travel more directly would make it formidable.

Dawit Habtemariam

Millions of people look to TikTok every day to plan their next vacation. So airlines, destination marketers, and hotels create short videos on the platform to influence final booking decisions.

Over 60% of users in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland say they’re likely to book a holiday based on recommendations they’ve seen on TikTok, according to Stuart Flint , who heads TikTok’s global business solutions for Europe and Israel.

Flint spoke with Skift Wednesday after his on-stage presentation at ITB Berlin, the travel trade show.

Flint discussed the platform’s niche communities, TikTok’s tests of long-form videos, why some celebs struggle on the platform, tips for appealing to users, and other issues.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How Travel Brands Work With TikTok

Skift: 2022 seemed like the year when travel brands really started using TikTok. How much has your travel advertising revenue grown since?

Flint: As they came out of Covid, people started to think about travel. They wanted to explore the world. People wanted just to get away. And then because TikTok was more front and center than previously, that’s why brands started to use it.  

Inspiration is a big part of that. Certainly, using the search and the discovery bar has been a significant shift in the way people behave on the platform. So that inspiration piece is great.

Then there’s the education piece. The idea of airlines like EasyJet or Ryanair, for example, is to really have fun with the platform. They’re quite humorous but stay true to their brands. This also allows them to educate, whether it’s a pilot telling you about turbulence or something else, or sharing a little hack about how to use the sick bag on the back of your seat.

We don’t share any information about revenues. But I can tell you that there’s been some really interesting travel brands working with us.

Booking.com is a very key customer for us. Travel booking, destinations, and airlines have become really, really big for us. So we’ve seen a lot of growth.

By the way, that’s not just paid. They’re also investing a lot of their time and energy into organic.

Food, Fitness, Fashion: Travel Trends to Watch

Skift: Can you go into the diversity of the travel community on TikTok? 

Flint: Food is one of the big trends that now bridges the gap between those communities. Travel is such an important part, but we understand that the second most popular reason to book was not just excursions but food and drink. People love to experience different cultures of food, whether it’s a market or it’s a backstreet restaurant. 

Fitness is such a big community in itself. It’s about CrossFit but not necessarily related to travel. Some people like to go on travel experiences where it’s a healthy weekend where they’re keeping fit, and they’re eating great food, and they’re not drinking alcohol.

So this becomes this really huge trend now saying, ‘I just want to go up into mountains in Austria and just be zen, be at one with my body and where I have a really great weekend with my partner.’

Fashion and beauty are big communities on our platform, too, and they inspire what to wear when you go to the beach or to a certain destination. For example, how do I get that ‘Cali look’?

It’s really important for travel brands or travel companies to not just associate themselves with that one vertical of travel. You’ve got to be in all these areas and having conversations with users that are inspiring those travels. All of those communities will help drive any inspirational travel decision or purchase that they may make.

Honest Experiences Help Creators Thrive

Skift: What has been the evolution in the creativity of TikTok’s content creators?

Flint: What’s happening is we’re seeing more and more creators become more and more popular. They’re almost becoming celebrities in their own right. They used to be called influencers, but I don’t think they exist anymore. I think the celebrity effect on our platform isn’t there.

I don’t think celebrities necessarily thrive on TikTok in the same way that they do maybe on other platforms. As long as they’re incredibly authentic and they’re creating content that shows you especially travel the highs and the lows of any travel that you go on. It’s not all uphill all the time in beautiful and turquoise waters.

Sometimes, you have a really rough day. It’s not always going to be beautiful sunshine and mountains in the Alps. And so having those honest experiences is what helps creators thrive and become very, very popular, and then bringing that element of humor, which is often overlooked.

‘We’re Always Testing’

Skift: TikTok became successful in large part due to its short-form vertical format, but it has started to allow longer videos. 

Flint: We’re testing that. We’re always testing. Right now, it’s a maximum of 10 minutes on the platform. Would we increase that again? I think if it was right.

Right now, we’re trialing the idea of moving and turning your phone 90 degrees and making it in landscape format rather than vertical.

So we’re trying all these things, I think, just to give a point of difference for creators and make it an enjoyable experience. 

I remember seeing a video of a man just kind of experiencing the wilderness, and I think it was in the U.S. Imagine that in the landscape format. That’s the opportunity. We’re saying, well, we can bring more creativity to the way that you are constructing your videos.

‘Small Niche Communities Are Driving Mass Cultures Now’

Skift: Meta and Google have adopted short-form videos into Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, respectively. Can they copy your secret sauce?

Flint: When I look at other platforms, potentially they’re a much more glossy experience for me. It’s like reading a magazine, whereas TikTok, it’s authenticity and people being real with each other. It is hilarious.

The humor piece is important. If someone is taking themselves too seriously, you see a lot of responses to that on TikTok.

Being yourself is a plus. It’s a safe space for people to be themselves. And I think that’s what TikTok always stood out to be. You only have to look at the comment section when people are putting themselves out there actually being quite emotional about it.

The responses you get in the comments area are fantastic. People care about their communities and the communities are what’s driving TikTok. These communities are the lifeblood, and they support each other. And these communities, these small niche communities are driving mass cultures now, which I think is a wonderful experience.

Booking Travel on TikTok? ‘Watch This Space’

Skift: TikTok allows users to buy products directly on their platform. Why doesn’t TikTok allow travelers to book directly on the platform?

Flint: All I’ll say is ‘watch this space.’ We see commerce as a really important part of our growth. Commerce is going to be huge. Beauty and fashion are right now the areas where most people are thriving. 

It’s fascinating how people interact not only with video content and other users but also how they’re interacting and making purchases based on those influences on a peer-to-peer recommendation.

People they trust that look like them, sound like them, are like them. They’re in the same community as them. And that same type of person, same sort of age. I trust that person and that’s a really cool outfit that they’re wearing or that’s a really cool adventure that they’re going on.

For example, about 60% of DAC [Germany, Austria, and Switzerland] users are more likely to book a holiday based on inspiration on the platform.

Travel ‘Dupes’ Trend

Skift: One thing tourism boards have liked about TikTok is that they can drive traffic to hidden gems without needing a large follower base.

Flint: That’s really the ‘travel dupes’ trend, where people are making recommendations on alternatives, more budgeted alternatives. Say, don’t think about Korea because that’s quite expensive to go to right now and the flight’s expensive. Go to Taipei instead. You’ll have a phenomenal experience both in terms of cuisine, both in terms of culture, of architecture. Someone saying that would be an example.

So, these alternative dupes are one of the big trends that we have started to see. And that’s helping small economies grow as well.

By the way, Taipei is not a small economy, but it’s certainly helping young businesses thrive because more people are going there. I didn’t really think about Taipei, but now I’ve been to Taipei and it’s incredible. It’s a great place to go. 

Building a Trusted and Safe Environment

Skift: There’s been recent pushback from the European authorities in regards to data privacy and user safety. What do these recent developments mean for TikTok?

Flint: Well look, we are constantly talking to the European Commission. We’re constantly talking and having communication about how we can do better. I think that’s what we’re all trying to do. And the fact that this is happening is a really positive thing for the industry. By the way, our number one priority, the bedrock of everything we’re doing, is keeping our users safe. I really care about the communities that exist on our platform. 

That’s not just about the content, by the way. It’s also about the brands and the importance that brands want to be associated around content that’s relevant to them but also equally incredibly safe.

We’ve now got 40,000 professionals who are effectively trust and safety employees who are looking out for those communities and those brands on our platform. And there are a number of tools that I can control as a parent that allow me to effectively make sure that my son or my daughter are kept safe. And there are a number of things that we’ve put in place that have put restrictions in place to make sure we’re keeping these people safe.

So, if you’re under 17, for example, there is no direct messaging. There are a number of different things that we’re doing that don’t necessarily get the headlines, but we’re always, always looking to build a much more trusted and safe environment for our users. 

More context: TikTok Chips Away at Google’s Dominance in Travel Discovery

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Tags: digital markets act , direct booking , direct booking wars , direct bookings , european union , instagram , online travel , regulation , regulations , social , social media , social media marketing , tiktok , tourism , youtube

While TikTok's future is unknown, micro-business owners continue to rely on it — including one founder who shared 3 tips for marketing and going viral

• Lauren Nelda Pascal is the founder of Lolo's Bonnets, a micro business in Jacksonville, Florida.
• Pascal has successfully used TikTok to market her products and build a customer following.
• This article is part of " Unlocking Small Business Success ," a series providing micro businesses with a road map to growth.

When Lauren Nelda Pascal sewed her first silk bonnet, she wasn't thinking about building a viral TikTok business.

In 2020, Pascal was on her " hair-growth journey " and needed a satin bonnet to protect her hair. She wanted to support a Black-owned business she knew of but saw it was sold out of its bonnets.

So Pascal decided to make her own.

After a visit to the fabric store and with the help of her mom's 20-year-old sewing machine, her first bonnet was born.

When her mom posted a photo of her product on Facebook, Pascal received a flood of requests from friends and family asking for their own bonnets.

"It just kind of took off; it was crazy," she said.

In 2021, she officially launched Lolo's Bonnets , a Black- and Haitian-owned micro business selling satin bonnets, scrunchies, and pillowcases.

Without a big marketing budget, Pascal turned to TikTok and started posting videos showing off her products.

"I can't afford to have a commercial on TV. I'm not going to go outside with a sign and twirl it," she said.

After going all in on TikTok at the end of 2021, Pascal's total sales grew by more than 1650% in one year, according to financial documents verified by Business Insider.

Now Pascal's TikTok business account has over 107,000 followers and 2.6 million likes, and Lizzo and other celebrities have featured her products on their pages .

While TikTok's future is in question , micro-business owners continue to use it. Pascal spoke with Business Insider about her top tips for finding marketing success on TikTok.

What to know about TikTok's possible ban

TikTok has been rising in popularity with small businesses. A report from Oxford Economics said over 7 million businesses used the app in the US .

In an interview with KXAN Austin , Giselle Ugarte, a TikTok content creator and coach for social-media business strategy, said the platform appealed to businesses because they could reach prospective customers without having to pay for direct marketing.

"For the first time ever, your content is guaranteed to be put in front of people who don't follow you," Ugarte told KXAN.

But the buzzy social-media app has become the subject of debate, with legislation in motion to ban the app in the US after concerns about data privacy.

Karen North, a clinical professor of communication at USC Annenberg, told BI she's doubtful the bill would pass since a companion bill had yet to be drafted in the Senate and the move would be extremely unpopular with voters in an election year . But she said the discussion forced business owners to consider how they might pivot their social-media strategy if needed.

With TikTok's "for you" page, businesses can learn a lot about their target audiences and their social-media habits. North said small-business owners should be aware of these users' preferred habits and focus their energy on the platforms that align with their brand's identity.

"TikTok adapts incredibly fast that you can experiment with a lot of things very quickly and get the data and see what works," North told BI. "Try using some of those best practices on the other platforms as well."

Be consistent

Pascal said posting content often on TikTok can help a business grow a following.

Frequently posting videos helps the algorithm get her clips in front of prospective customers. The tactic also creates a space for Pascal to build her online presence as a micro-business owner.

"That's how you build trust with people that don't know you yet," Pascal added.

A general rule for businesses is to post one to three times a day , ICUC, a social-media-management agency, says. But there's no hard and fast rule for social media, and users like Pascal say that posting quality content is more important than quantity.

One way owners can be consistent is to plan their content around their busy schedules. If you're working a full-time job while running a business on the side, posting multiple videos a day might not be as effective as posting quality content less often. For Pascal, quality content means a video educates, is funny, or provides "some sort of help to the customer." No matter how often you post, she said, consistency can keep followers coming back.

Diversify your content

Pascal told BI that it's important for an owner to figure out what makes their own business unique on TikTok.

Studying other businesses to see what trends are successful and what prospective customers are excited about can be valuable, Pascal said. As long as you credit other businesses when posting similar videos, she added, it can be a great way to draw in new customers.

It's also important for businesses to mix up their content across platforms. While trying to post the same Instagram video on TikTok may be compelling, Pascal said it might not be effective. Having a different strategy for each app lets owners maximize their growth and reach.

On TikTok, Pascal said, you have to be on the right "for you" page to know what's trending with an audience that might be interested in your product. She suggested following similar creators within your niche to replicate what a customer's TikTok feed might look like and see what's getting attention.

Pascal added that taking advantage of popular sounds could be an easy way to gain exposure. "The trending audios will save you all day and all night," she said.

It's important to hop on trends when they take off, she added. Because apps like TikTok and Instagram have so many users, the trend cycle moves quickly, and it's easy to get left behind.

"If something is trending, hit it quick," Pascal said. "Those trends don't last."

Unlike on TikTok, businesses using Instagram Reels , Instagram's short-form-video feature, should be more cautious with trending audio. Pascal suggested incorporating audio tracks used by fewer than 10,000 users to stand out.

Pascal said the real secret to finding marketing success on TikTok was being your authentic self . She added that posting something outrageous just for views wasn't a good way to attract a loyal customer base.

By prioritizing her followers and their hair-care journeys, Pascal has built a community and follower base that trusts her products and hair advice — even if it doesn't always result in customers buying her bonnets.

"I have a product that I love. I have a product that I believe in, and so I try to let that bleed through my content," Pascal said. "I think people sense that."

Pascal added that it's important for owners to set themselves apart from big brands on the app. She leans in to her personal experiences and focuses on what makes her company unique.

Black women have traditionally worn bonnets to protect hairstyles and prevent breakage. In addition to promoting her products, Pascal posts videos on her TikTok account about why silk bonnets encourage hair growth and how they can benefit Black and non-Black hair textures.

Pascal said that telling the story of her company and culture makes her brand stand out. "I want you to get to know a little bit about me and the business," she added.

She told BI she liked to lead her posts with gratitude and help others navigate their hair setbacks and solutions. Watching people chat in the comment sections about their own culture and hair routines — while supporting Lolo's Bonnets — has made the marketing journey fulfilling, she added.

"As a Black woman, my hair is a big part of my identity. It will be forever," Pascal said. "I love learning more about it and to be able to help people with hair problems no matter what their texture is, is so nice and cool."

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The obvious solution to rein in Facebook, TikTok and other social media

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Anika Collier Navaroli is a journalist, lawyer and senior fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School. She is also a former senior policy official at Twitter and Twitch. Ellen K. Pao is a tech investor and advocate, the former CEO of Reddit and a cofounder of the award-winning diversity and inclusion nonprofit Project Include. They wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

Powerful technology has perhaps never presented a bigger set of regulatory challenges for the U.S. government. Before the state primary in January, Democrats in New Hampshire received robocalls playing AI-generated deepfake audio recordings of President Joe Biden encouraging them not to vote. Imagine political deepfakes that, say, incite Americans to violence. This scenario isn’t too hard to conjure given new research from NYU that describes the distribution of false, hateful or violent content on social media as the greatest digital risk to the 2024 elections.

The two of us have helped develop and enforce some of the most consequential social media decisions in modern history, including banning revenge porn on Reddit and banning Trump on Twitter. So we’ve seen firsthand how well it has worked to rely entirely on self-regulation for social media companies to moderate their content.

The verdict: not well at all.

Toxic content abounds on our largely unregulated social media, which already helped foment the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the attempted coup in Brazil on Jan. 8, 2023. The dangers are only compounded with layoffs hitting the industry, the Supreme Court and Congress failing to address these issues head on, and inscrutable CEOs launching dramatic changes to their companies. Broad access to new and increasingly sophisticated technology for creating realistic deepfakes, such as AI-generated fake pornography of Taylor Swift, will make it easier to spread dupes.

The status quo of social media companies in the U.S. is akin to having an unregulated flight industry. Imagine if we didn’t track flight times or delays or if we didn’t record crashes and investigate why they happened. Imagine if we never found out about rogue pilots or passengers and those individuals were not blacklisted from future flights. Airlines would have less of an idea of what needs to be done and where the problems are. They would also face less accountability. The lack of social media industry standards and metrics to track safety and harm has driven us to a race to the bottom.

Similar to the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, there should be an agency to regulate American technology companies. Congress can create an independent authority responsible for establishing and enforcing baseline safety and privacy rules for social media companies. To ensure compliance, the agency should have access to relevant company information and documents and the authority to hold noncompliant companies accountable. If or when things go awry, the agency should have the authority to investigate what happened, much as the transportation board can investigate Boeing after its recent mishaps.

Reining in social media harms is a difficult task. But we need to start somewhere, and attempts to ban platforms after they’ve already become hugely influential, as some U.S. lawmakers are trying to do with TikTok, just set up an unending game of whack-a-mole.

Platforms can track the number of accounts taken down, the number of posts removed and the reasons why those actions were taken. It also should be feasible to build a companywide database of the hidden but traceable device IDs for phones and IP addresses that have been used to commit privacy, safety and other rule violations, including links to the posts and activities that were the basis for the decision to catalog the person and device.

Companies should also share how algorithms are being used to moderate content, along with specifics on their safeguards to avoid bias (research indicates that, for example, automated hate speech detection shows racial bias and can amplify race-based harm). At minimum, companies would be banned from accepting payment from terrorist groups looking to verify social media accounts, as the Tech Transparency Project found X (formerly Twitter) to be doing.

People often forget how much content removal already happens on social media, including child pornography bans, spam filters and suspensions on individual accounts such as the one that tracked Elon Musk’s private jet. Regulating these private companies to prevent harassment, harmful data sharing and misinformation is a necessary, and natural, extension for user safety, privacy and experience.

Protecting users’ privacy and safety requires research and insight into how social media companies work, how their current policies were written, and how their content moderation decisions have historically been made and enforced. Safety teams, whose members do the essential work of content moderation and hold vital insider knowledge, have recently been scaled back at companies such as Amazon, Twitter and Google. Those layoffs, on top of the rising number of people pursuing tech careers yet finding uncertainty in the private tech sector, leave numerous individuals on the job market with the skills and knowledge to tackle these issues. They could be recruited by a new agency to create practical, effective solutions.

Tech regulation is the rare issue that has bipartisan support. And in 2018, Congress created an agency to protect the cybersecurity of the government. It can and should create another regulatory agency to face threats from both legacy and emerging technologies of domestic and foreign companies. Otherwise we’ll just keep experiencing one social media disaster after another.

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TikTok Shop became available across the US last week. The social video platform has a lot to gain in retail and ad revenues, but it risks facing the same challenges Meta has had with social commerce on Instagram—users’ reluctance to actually complete purchases in app. But with sister app Douyin setting the blueprint for TikTok’s social commerce endeavors, the platform isn’t starting from scratch. Here’s a look at TikTok’s social commerce strategy and potential in five charts.

1. Social commerce blew up quickly on TikTok

TikTok will have 33.3 million US social buyers this year, according to our forecast. That’s less than Facebook (65.7 million) and Instagram (43.0) million. Both Facebook and TikTok have 37.0% of their users making a purchase on their respective platforms.

TikTok’s next challenge is to boost its total number of social buyers: by gaining users and by converting users into buyers.

2. Gen Z is willing to buy on TikTok

Some 68% of Gen Z adults in the US are willing to make a purchase on TikTok, putting it in line with YouTube and just behind Instagram (71%), according to Jungle Scout. While that figure is promising, it’s another place where TikTok doesn’t yet stand out over Instagram. Instagram itself has struggled with making social commerce take off, and removed its own shopping tab at the start of this year.

But adult TikTok users already spend way more time on TikTok (54 minutes per day) than adult Instagram users do on Instagram (33 minutes per day), according to our forecast. And with so much content being posted to TikTok every day, there’s tons of potential for new listings. TikTok will need to turn engaged users into engaged spenders.

3. The influencer market is resilient

It’s wise of TikTok to invest in Shop, because US social ad spending is not growing as quickly as influencer marketing spending is, according to our forecast. That means the platform can’t rely on massive ad revenue growth (although TikTok’s ad revenues are still growing by double digits).

Shop listings and affiliate links provide TikTok with an opportunity to capitalize on influencer marketing by being a part of that transaction. And with over 100,000 creators already using TikTok Shop’s affiliate program, creators are clearly also interested in Shop features.

4. Mcommerce is boosting ecommerce growth

Mobile commerce (mcommerce) will account for close to half (49.8%) of US ecommerce sales in 2027, we forecast. When it comes to mcommerce, TikTok’s challenger isn’t just Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube—it’s also Amazon.

Fortunately, TikTok has built its own Amazon-style flywheel consisting of media, advertising, and commerce to compete with the retail giant. That will help TikTok in its quest for a greater share of the growing mcommerce market.

5. Shop could boost ad spending on TikTok, which still has room to grow

TikTok’s share of US video ad spending will be 6.5% this year, putting it below YouTube’s 8.3% and well below Meta’s 30.1% share. Total US video ad spending will reach $84.14 billion this year, and while TikTok’s share is increasing, the platform has a ways to go if it wants to get to Meta’s level.

Shop opens the potential for more ad spend as brands promote listings, but TikTok will first need to get brands comfortable with using the platform for commerce rather than moving users to their own channels.

This was originally featured in the Retail Daily newsletter. For more retail insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here .

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